“We just started a retail support division in September, and we’ve hired six experienced retail people who are going to help us launch this new program for us,” said Andrew Scott, director of marketing and business development for the Nickey Gregory Co., which has two warehouses on the Atlanta State Farmer’s Market. “We’re very heavy on who we sell to, which is foodservice, so we’re trying to diversify.”“At the booth, we’ll be showcasing some of the retail items we will be doing,” Scott said. “We’ll have some retail fresh-cut items, as well as processed and fresh-cut items from Family Fresh Foods, which is our processing division.”
Right now, Family Fresh Foods does a lot of school packs and foodservice packs, and it will soon be doing retail packs later in the year.
A strategy session for the show happened in August, with the five team members scheduling who each would see and what dinners and events would be attended.
“A lot of people already know us, but a lot of times, you just have to make that extra effort,” Scott said. “We’re pretty much going to man our booth that Friday and be there to talk to everyone who comes by.”
A successful show, he noted, is one where you find some new vendors and/or customers.
“We have a really good customer base right now, but we’d love to start doing some more retail business,” Scott said. “This might afford us that opportunity.”
Nickey Gregory Co. is always looking for growth opportunities, and to expand on the Atlanta Market in terms of space. Currently, it has a little under 150,000 square feet, and it’s hoping to find more.
“We have had some growing pains that we thought we’d never have moving into these two buildings of ours,” Scott said.
