Nickey Gregory Co. ramping up retail support division
Nickey Gregory Co. ramping up retail support division
The Nickey Gregory Co. is celebrated as a dedicated supporter of Georgia’s produce industry, proudly displaying the Georgia Grown logo on its trucks and trailers. As one of the leading produce distributors in the state, the company ensures overnight deliveries from its Atlanta base to distribution centers and customers in 10 Southeastern states.
The company celebrated its 25th anniversary in January and continues to expand and grow on the Atlanta State Farmer’s Market, where it has two buildings—one for wholesale and one for fresh cut processing.
With spring in full bloom, Nickey Gregory Co. is particularly focused on local vegetables and fruits, including cabbage, bell peppers, yellow squash, zucchini, cucumbers, eggplant and various greens like collards, turnips, mustard and kale.
“We’re all about Georgia-grown products and are big supporters,” said Andrew Scott, director of marketing and business development. “That logo signifies our support for local farmers and the Georgia economy. We’re also a platinum member for Georgia Grown, so we’re very heavily involved with that, and we are big believers of locally grown.”
Owner Nickey Gregory has deep roots in the agricultural community, having worked on a family farm in South Georgia before relocating to Atlanta at a young age. His journey in the produce industry began at just 6 years old, helping his parents with their wholesale business on the Atlanta Market.
After gaining experience working for other wholesalers following his father’s retirement, he and his wife, Cheryl, launched their own company in January 2020.
Being in Georgia is just one of the things that makes the company successful.
“It’s not just because of produce, there are a lot of big Fortune 500 companies that have their headquarters here,” Scott said. “It’s a really good state to do business in. The governor has been great. They’ve brought in a tremendous amount of business.”
Agriculture remains the No. 1 revenue stream in the state and the company is happy to be a part of the winning atmosphere.
As of mid-April, the company was expecting a solid season from Georgia in 2025, as no late freezes have hindered growing like in recent years.
“It did get a little cool in early April, but I do think it will be good growing conditions down in South Georgia,” Scott said. “Blueberries have just started, and peaches will get started in a small way in the next couple of weeks. Then all of the vegggies follow right afterwards.”
That’s good news as it’s been a somewhat slow start of the year for Nickey Gregory Co., with things having just started to pick up in late March. Having a late Easter helped keep things solid through March and April.
“With better weather now, it’s going to really start picking up on sales for us,” Scott said.
Last October, the company started a retail support division that’s ramping up as it continues to add stores in Georgia, South Carolina, Alabama and North Carolina.
“This is a growth area for us,” Scott said. “We’ve been heavily involved in food service, and we wanted to diversify. We’re chasing independent retail business. Independents are always about pushing locally grown too, so with Georgia just getting started, that will be nice.”
The company also recently added six new 10-wheeler box trucks with lift gates to help get that segment off the ground.
