In mid-October 2011, Tom Ciovacco, president of Mutual Produce Corporation located at the New England Produce Center in Chelsea, MA, purchased all shares of the company from his previous partners.

Philip Forster, general manager of the company, explained to The Produce News that it was founded in 1961 by Lewis Gussman.

“About ten years ago he sold it to four partners — people who were employed by him at the time — and Tom was one of those partners,” said Mr. Forster. “Over the years tSheldon Borodkin joined Mutual Produce in late 2011, and is specializing in berries, celery and grapes.hey began going in different directions, and Tom wanted to operate the business the way he saw best, which resulted in the buyout.”

Mr. Ciovacco purchased his partners’ share of the business with his own personal money — not funds from the business. Mr. Forster said that the company is proud of its four-X, double-A Blue Book rating, and they intend to keep it financially strong.

“In this first year of single ownership, our level of customer service has gone up a notch,” said Mr. Forster. “Many customers have expressed how we are able to get trucks get in and out without wasting time. They come in, get loaded and get out, and our products are high quality, which is of great importance to customer satisfaction.

The company’s suppliers are also satisfied with the single ownership. Mr. Forster said that no one has jumped ship, and the company has actually strengthened its supplier relationships, and even picked up some new ones.

“Our Blue Book rating is an asset in this respect,” he added.

Mutual Produce Corporation’s customers are major and small retail chains, independent retailers, wholesalers and foodservice operators. Mr. Forster said the company purposely services a wide range of customer types because it enables it to be flexible and to cover a wide realm of business types.

“Major retail chains continue to do a pretty good business with us,” said Mr. Forster. “They want control over their supplies and they don’t want to run short, so we’re a good fill-in supplier for them. I believe that in the future more will head back to terminal market distributors to increase their fresh produce purchases.”

He added that a major customer concern is about the “days on hand:” the number of days from when product enters their doors and when it’s sold. They don’t want product sitting in their warehouses too long and so they are buying somewhat closer today.

“That leads to more opportunities for us to service them and develop ourselves as a reliable source,” said Mr. Forster. “It costs money to have stuff sitting around. In the long run, there are accountants everywhere just checking the bottom line, and the produce is a business of adjustments that affect that bottom line.”

The foodservice sector, Mr. Forster noted, is having a nice turnaround from the downed economy of the past few years. He said the higher end foodservice operations seem to be doing especially well.

Mutual Produce Corporation handles a full line of commodity fruits and vegetables. In October it was heavy into its cantaloupe, honeydew, California vegetable, grape, avocado and full berry line movements.

Mr. Forster said there were no staff changes associated with the buyout last year, and about eight months ago, the company increased its staff when it hired Sheldon Borodkin.

“Sheldon has over 30 years of experience in the produce industry,” he said. “He is procuring and selling our berry category and selling some celery and grapes.”