Ben B looking forward to connections at Viva Fresh
Ben B looking forward to connections at Viva Fresh
With 119 years of providing outstanding service and now led by fourth-generation owners Jake and Drew Billmeyer, Ben B. Schwartz & Sons continues to be a go-to company for produce.
Working from the Michigan Produce Terminal in Detroit, the company’s distribution network reaches most of the United States and into Canada, with an increased presence in Toronto in recent years.
Soon, the company will be heading to the Viva Fresh show where it expects a lot of great things to happen.
“We will be meeting with our south and southeast-based customers as well as connecting with our existing southern growers to keep our partnerships strong,” said Bill Loupée, chief operating officer of Ben B. “At the show, we will be looking to stay abreast of new growers and items, and looking for product innovations.”
Ben B has always had a strong presence at Viva Fresh and this year, Jordan Grainger (vice president of sales and business development) will be joining Loupée on the show floor to allow a perspective from both the sales and operations side of the business.
In addition to talking about what it can do for customers, the Ben B team also expects to be talking about some of the important topics impacting the industry today.
“Tariffs will likely be the hot topic,” Loupée said, especially since the company has a huge presence in Canada and information seems to be changing with tariffs weekly. “An while it’s important to let our customers and vendors know that we have strategic plans in place around the various tariff possibilities, we also want to focus on things more within our control.”
Obviously, networking is an important part of any show the company attends, and Loupée is looking forward to meeting with as many people at the show as he possibly can.
“Produce is an industry that is both big and small,” he said. “We see networking as very important and offer to bring value to others without any expectation of something in return.”
In 2025, Ben B is excited about going live with its proprietary transportation management system called Ben B Access.
“Access improves the customer experience through pinpoint tracking and ETAs, internal on-time performance tracking, and fleet maintenance tools,” Loupée said.
Additionally, the company has recently expanded and further formalized its Michigan local program and expanded its value-added offerings through repack and citrus bagging. It’s also added SKUs and continue to do more to better support customers’ needs.
Customers are Ben B.’s top priority and it works to ensure its customers become partners and works with them to develop strategies to grow each other’s businesses.
“Customer feedback is very important to us as a company,” Loupée said. “We use this feedback, negative, positive, or indifferent, to help improve our quality and service we provide to our customers. Worst thing to do with feedback from customers is nothing at all.”
