More is changing at Atlanta’s Nickey Gregory Co. than the season. Heading into the Southeast Produce Council Fall Conference Sept. 25-28, the company is leveraging a decade of continuous growth for a next-level leap in the region’s produce industry.

“Nickey has done extraordinary things in the last decade to build this company and position it for next-level greatness,” said Vice President of Marketing and Business Development Andrew Scott, who recently joined the team.Tomatoes, stoplight pepper and avocados from Gregory’s private ‘Cheryl's Best’ label. (Photo courtesy of the Gregory Co.) “We’re just now beginning to tap into new areas of business with our repack and private and custom label operations. Our fleet is constantly growing. We have 156 people on the team, but we run as efficiently and nimbly as a much smaller company. Nickey deserves a lot of credit for not only putting together the business plan, but also creating an atmosphere where everyone in the company completely buys into his vision. Everybody here is in it for the long haul. We’re all on the same page.”

Headquartered in Forest Park, GA, on the Atlanta State Farmers Market, the Gregory Co. has experienced phenomenal growth in recent years, adding a second warehouse in Miami, a dedicated 20,000-square-foot tomato operation in College Park, GA, and multiple expansions of its main facility. The company’s own “Cheryl’s Best” label started with tomatoes but continues to expand into other categories. The repack operation has thrived.

The Gregory Co. stocks over 350 fresh produce items daily, sourced from local farmers as well as growers throughout the United States, Canada, Spain, Mexico and Holland. Not only is the company a full-line distributor, it also controls its own logistics with its fleet of refrigerated trailers delivering within a 750 mile-radius of the 75,000-square-foot location in Atlanta, a 20,000-square-foot tomato warehouse and the 25,000-square-foot operation in Miami. The company also offers a cross-dock operation, storage, logistics and retail support with direct store delivery. “We are PrimusGFS-certified at each of our warehouses, scoring in the high 90s for a Superior rating,” Scott said.  

 These are good times indeed.

“Everything that has been accomplished to-date has set the stage for our next level of growth,” Scott said. “We are in synch and hitting on all cylinders. Nickey has kept momentum moving forward for almost 15 years, even through the worst economic period in our lifetimes, and now we’re prepared to leverage that momentum and move onward and upward.”

Scott, meanwhile, is in the final days of his term as president of the Southeast Produce Council. Scott will stay active with the council working with numerous committees and organizing the Southern Exposure and Fall Conference golf tournaments.

“There is no way I can ever express what the Southeast Produce Council has meant to me and means to me and will always mean to me,” Scott said. “I learned more about this business from my peers on the council than I ever could have in the business world alone. To be exposed to that level of talent, to work with and learn from the people I served with, is an experience you could never put a price tag on. But it’s been much more than business. I’ve made friendships that will last a lifetime. The Southeast Produce Council is a family, and it has been an honor to serve as that family’s leader.

“On the other hand, it’s really going to be nice to be able to return most of my focus to business,” Scott said. “I am incredibly fortunate to have had the experiences that I have had — but I’m even more fortunate to be in the position that I’m in now, where I can help make Nickey’s vision reality and help this company become the top retail, wholesale and food service produce supplier in the Southeast.”