John Vena Inc. seeing gains in JVI Imports division

The Vena family’s roots in the Philadelphia produce industry date back more than 100 years. It’s a legacy that those at John Vena Inc. are committed to keep going strong, and there’s a great buzz around the company in 2023.

“We’ve got a lot of energy around our new imports programs through JVI Imports, our in-house imports division,” said Emily Kohlhas, director of marketing for the company. “We’re in our second season with pomegranates out of Peru after a seamless transition from the Israeli season. We’re also in our first full season with fresh black mission figs from Peru. There has been a lot of enthusiasm for these programs, especially pomegranates as we get closer and closer to year-round direct availability.”

This is the company’s first full season with fresh black mission figs and it sees huge potential for year-round availability.

“Our grower is experienced with the European market and knows how to produce high quality fruit for export, which is crucial on such a delicate item,” Kohlhas said. “The Israeli citrus season for JVI Imports also continues with Orri mandarins and sunrise grapefruits. Those have been core items for the group for years, and the program is a well-oiled machine.”

Toward the end of 2022, the company saw its foodservice business reinvigorated and even surpass pre-COVID-19 levels.

“We also started to see a lot of new faces in the market — independent restaurants, retailers and manufacturers run by the next generation of entrepreneurs,” said Dan Vena, director of sales. “With this new energy has come a rethinking of supply chains and we’ve seen a lot of folks start to build the wholesale market into their sourcing model. That strategy had fallen out of favor in the era of mass consolidation, but it seems to be coming back into vogue as young people seek opportunities outside of the establishment. We’ve formed a lot of exciting new partnerships over the last year, and we are looking forward to seeing where they go.”

Philadelphia is a big part of John Vena’s history. The company’s founder immigrated to Philadelphia from Sicily in 1898 and by 1919 it was an integral part of the original wholesale market in the city.

“We have more than a century of institutional knowledge about the consumer, retail and foodservice landscape of the region,” Kohlhas said. “Plus, Philadelphia is hugely convenient for serving the largest metro areas of Eastern seaboard: we’re able to deliver LTL customers with mix pallets of high-value items within a day from Virginia to Maine. For our imports division, Philadelphia is the place to be. We have a world class port facility, an international airport and a huge assortment of cold storage facilities in our backyard — all without the traffic and tolls of NYC.”

The company is currently increasing its logistics department and anticipate continued growth of its delivery services in the coming year.

“Our ripening and repacking departments also have some exciting growth opportunities on the horizon with coming added capacity to take on a few new clients from the waiting list for custom ripening and repacking programs,” Kohlhas said. “John Vena Inc., has always been about building long-term partnerships that work for everyone — and it shows. Many of our growers, our customers and our team members have been with us for decades. That says something.”