4M Fruit expands with three new bays at the NEPC
4M Fruit expands with three new bays at the NEPC
BOSTON -- Mark DeFrancesco is quite proud of 4M Fruit Distributors' new space here at the New England Produce Center.
"We're on the move again," Mr. DeFrancesco told The Produce News. "This is an addition that we have been trying to make for the last few years, and like the old saying goes, location and timing are everything.
"A lot of companies tend to be stagnant, while we on the other hand are a lot more aggressive," he added. "At 4M, we all have one goal: to meet all of our customers' specific needs. As times are changing, so is the customer base. That so-called built-in business is much harder to maintain, so at 4M we focus on what the individual customer wants, and our sales team makes it happen."
Mr. DeFrancesco, who serves as the firm's president and treasurer, said that it had been occupying the new location for only three weeks when The Produce News visited in early April.
"We spent nearly four months renovating the space," he said. "We completely gutted and rebuilt from the floor up, which included enclosing and refrigerating the back dock so we never break the cold chain. Completely new electrical, refrigeration, racking and handling equipment were also added."
The new space caters more to the walk-in trade, while its larger warehouse, which it has occupied for the last eight years and is located directly outside the New England Produce Center, is used for servicing chainstores in the Northeast, he said.
Mr. DeFrancesco, who is the third generation of his family in the produce industry, started the firm 10 years ago as a high-end fruit house specializing in grapes.
"We owe a lot of our success to the higher-end growers and shippers that support 4M Fruit Distributors, like Dole, Desert Fresh, Kingsburg Orchards, L.G.S. Specialty Sales, Oneonta Starr Ranch Growers, Sunlight International, Sun Pacific, Sun World and Turlock Fruit," he said. "We carry some of the best product and labels money can buy."
Mr. DeFrancesco also mentioned that the firm would be working on an organic program, which it hopes to expand in the next few months.
