Just-in-time shipments have become the order of the day at Atlanta’s Merrin-Cravens
Just-in-time shipments have become the order of the day at Atlanta’s Merrin-Cravens
FOREST PARK, GA — David Rose, president of broker Merrin-Cravens Co., which has been supplying the wholesale and food service industry with top-quality produce from around the world since 1923 from its spot on the Atlanta State Farmers Market, said customers today are playing it close to the vest.
Despite a fairly well-entrenched economic recovery, “There’s not a lot of speculative ordering going on,” Rose said. “People are looking for just-in-time shipments.”
Filling niches like that requires a personal touch — a Merrin-Cravens specialty. Rose understands that his business is built on relationships, and despite the computer terminals at every desk, Merrin-Cravens is in constant daily contact with customers around the country by phone, person-to-person.
After 92 years in the business, Merrin-Craven’s clientele “knows us and they know what to expect from us,” Rose said. “We’ve built good relationships and work with one another on a day to day basis. But it doesn’t take much to make somebody mad and they don’t forget, so you have to handle it with kid gloves and make sure that what you’re promising happens. We have to be careful — we have to deal with reputable people. If you’re new to it you may not understand it but you will quickly pick that up.”
There are no newcomers at Merrin-Cravens. Most of the staff has been together for years.
“From year to year there hasn’t been much change,” Rose said. “Just a few more gray hairs. The business changes a lot but there’s a lot to be said for consistency. There’s quite a few people I’ve never met face to face, probably more so than I’ve met personally — most of the shippers we talk to are not in this state but we have built relationships over time that let them know they can rely on us.”
While brokers are disappearing in some parts of the produce industry they’re still critical on the Atlanta Market.
“There’s always a need for somebody to match loads, there’s always somebody looking for a little of this and a little of that and they don’t want to go broke trying to put a shipment together,” said Rose. “In a setting like this, there will always be a need for a middleman to put deals together.
“We’ve been doing this a long time. Our customers know they can rely on us. They can depend on us for quality and timeliness. That’s what keeps us in business.”
