Despite the more than two feet of snow that hammered the Northeast during the weekend of Jan. 23-25, East Coast produce operators fared relatively well with few interruptions of service.

Evan Kazan of Target Interstate, a major logistics operation headquartered at Hunts Point Terminal Market in the Bronx, NY, told The Produce News Jan. 25 that companies were well prepared for the storm.

“We’ve been fortunate this winter until this storm,” said Kazan, “By now we’re fully prepared to take whatever action necessary to get our trucks to their destinations in a timely manner when a forecast indicates that there is bad weather coming.”

He noted that the terminal market gets its equipment moving quickly to clear the snow when a storm hits, so the company’s employees did not have a problem getting to work.

“Some normal glitches occurred, of course, such as some trucks getting stuck in New Jersey and Pennsylvania and other areas for short periods of time,” he said. “But it’s good that the bulk of the storm hit over the weekend which gave us a little leeway. Also, some customers had the foresight to accept trucks early because they knew the storm was coming.”

The Hunts Point Terminal Market shortened its operating hours over the weekend, but it did not close. Even then, if a load of something was important to a company on the market, the truck was escorted to its unloading dock without delay.

“The streets in the city are already pretty cleaned up,” added Kazan. “And business at the terminal market is back on track and running as normal today. There is always an uptick to a storm like this one. People go into scare mode when a storm is coming and they stock up on everything at the grocery stores. That means that stores have to restock quickly when the storm passes.”

North Bergen, NJ-based Exp Group LLC worked without interruption through both days of the storm. Emil Serafino, vice president, said because the company has its own private location rather than being on a market, it makes its own decisions during inclement weather conditions.

“We provide transportation for our employees, which eliminates the problem of them being able to get to work,” said Serafino. “We operated 100 percent on Saturday, 25 percent on Sunday and we’re on schedule for 100 percent today.”

He added that storms are always a hassle, pointing out that the ports were closed on Monday.

“Schools are open, but the ports are closed,” he said. “We’re hoping they open by tomorrow. We’re real busy today as everyone is restocking their shelves because of the buying frenzy prior to the storm.”

The Washington, DC-Baltimore area got an extra heavy hit of snow with the storm.

Tony Vitrano, president of Tony Vitrano Co., located at the Maryland Wholesale Produce Market in Jessup, MD, said the market did a good job of cleaning up the snow quickly.

“Some employees could not get to the market,” said Vitrano. “But the center is clean and we expect things to be back to normal tonight. There are so many empty shelves in grocery stores that business is really strong today.”

Companies on and around the Philadelphia Produce Market were still facing a couple of challenges on Monday morning.

Frank Paone, director of marketing for Philadelphia, PA-based Procacci Brothers, which has an operation on the Philadelphia Wholesale Produce Market, responded to The Produce News from his iPhone because the power had not yet been restored at the company’s offices.

“We had to be proactive and realistic in planning the week out with our customers based on the forecast,” said Paone. “We knew as the week progressed that logistics would be hampered on Saturday and Sunday, so it was imperative for us to get our entire team on the same page to execute the best possible service given the conditions.”

Because there was no safe way to get people in and out of the office or warehouse, Procacci Brothers closed on Saturday.

“Cleanup efforts have been good since, and aside from some [glitches], such as public transportation being limited, we have a sizable crew back in today,” added Paone. “As for business, we know most stores were probably cleaned out by the rush ahead of the storm. We are anticipating and counting on having to do all we can to get product out to them quickly as travel conditions make shopping more conducive over the next few days.”

Further north in Boston, the blizzard brought back memories of the nightmarish week-after-week snow storms that ravaged the region in 2015.

John Condakes, food safety and security manager for Peter Condakes Co. Inc., located on the New England Produce Center in Chelsea, MA, said the area recovered from the storm quickly.

“Some of our competitors missed some truck deliveries, but we were fortunate and stayed right on track,” said Condakes. “The terminal market was cleaned up quickly, so there are no major snow piles to deal with. It’s business back to normal today.

“Of course, we would have liked the Patriots to win the game yesterday, which would have put a pep in our step today,” he joked.

The New England Patriots were beaten 20-18 Sunday by the Denver Broncos.