Collotti & Sons relies on experience and team dedication for success

With nearly 50 years of experience in the produce business, Collotti & Sons has been a staple of the Philadelphia produce scene.

Operating two units in the Philadelphia Wholesale Produce Market, the company deals in a variety of the finest produce, such as berries, carrots, cauliflower, leaf lettuce, celery, spinach, potatoes, broccoli, onions and more, including a wide variety of organic offerings.

Collotti & Sons’ dedicated sales team has established outstanding relationships with such companies as Driscoll’s, Dole Fresh Vegetables, and Grimmway Farms, and continues to add new, trusted partnerships year after year.

Collotti & Sons supports local farmers, Jersey Fresh, as well as growers in Canada and Mexico, with a mission to supply its customers with the best quality product.

It’s continued to do that through the myriad of challenges that are happening throughout the industry.

“We’re still trying to get through this COVID-19 world; the inflation has really been a struggle on the business,” said John Collotti, manager of the company. “There’s not too much of a walk-in business now, so we’re trying to do more deliveries and trying new lines of items. We’re just hoping the supply chain gets better for everyone. From seed-to-shelf, there are bottlenecks everywhere.”

The company is also trying to get more trucks for deliveries, but that’s been an issue as well, with new trucks taking up to a year to get.

He’s seeing more interest in bagged produce items, and many customers are asking for clamshell packaging.

“Our customers don’t really have the help to sort through the stuff; they want to take it out of the box and put it on the display shelf,” Collotti said. “We just try to keep the customers that we have happy. That’s our philosophy.”

The company’s success is due in large part to generations of experience and dedication.

“It takes hard work and good customer service,” Collotti said. “Each day is different but whenever a company calls, we’re here to take the call.”

Collotti & Sons has a trusted crew, and that’s also a reason why customers like to deal with the company, knowing they have experienced workers who they have dealt with time and time again.

“My sales guys know what our customers want. A lot of our customers just buy over the phone now — they don’t even walk the street,” Collotti said. “We’ll give them a rundown of what we have, take some pictures and then they can just come in and pick up their order. That comes from the trust they have in us.”

While the company has a little bit of foodservice business, the majority of customers are small, local family retail operators with two or three stores, though it’s trying to expand more into stores in Maryland and down south.

“We’re just trying to stay ahead,” Collotti said. “We’re competing against Amazon and all the others out there now, but we have a level of service that can separate us from the others.”