Jacob’s Tomato: A new name, but same commitment to quality

Late last year, Jacobs Village Farm Corp., rebranded as Jacob’s Tomato Corp., and the Brooklyn, NY-based company is seeing big dividends from the name change.

“It’s great for the company. We’re bringing a younger team in with new buyers and salesman, we’re trying to develop an avocado department, a berry department, a tomato department and looking to do a full line so everyone has its own department,” said Jacob Yusifov, owner of the company. “We’ve expanded our warehouse, built a brand-new refrigeration cooler and in the next year or so, we’ll be expanding to another 25,000 square feet of refrigerated cold storage.”

This year, Jacob’s Tomato is seeing more demand for berries, which it had been bringing in slowly as it built a customer base, and it’s built that segment up quickly. The company has also been importing product from Israel, such as citrus, as it continues to grow.

“It’s all good for the Brooklyn market which is its own little state,” Yusifov said. “We’re trying to grow and need people to grow with us, such as our vendors and customers.”

Jacob’s Tomato Corp. was established in 1999 by Yusifov, who was born in Azerbaijan and later migrated to Israel, which is where he fell in love with produce. Once coming to America, he opened retail supermarkets in the Brooklyn area and then went into wholesale distribution. Today, Jacob’s Tomato serves more than 300 retail and food service accounts throughout the East Coast, importing from Mexico, Chile, Israel and Canada. 

“We’re bringing a younger procurement team and I think that’s a big help and will make us grow even more,” Yusifov said. “We’re bringing fresh faces into the produce business.”

Being close to Hunts Point Market allows Jacob’s Tomato to better serve its customers and ensure that it always has what’s needed.

“We trade whenever we need something, and whenever the market doesn’t have something, I can supply them,” Yusifov said. “The difference between us and Hunts Point is that we’re open seven days a week, so we can cater to people on Saturday, which is one of the reasons people come to us.”

Tomatoes represents about 50 percent of the company’s business, and it offers the product year-round.

“Our main goal is to have it when no one else has it,” Yusifov said. “Rugose has been a big issue this year, because a lot of quality wasn’t coming in great, like tomatoes-on-the-vine, but hopefully it’s going to get better. We try to work with people who have great quality and don’t have that issue.”

Other challenges to the tomato crop of late have been weather, with California getting a lot of rain. That’s impacted other products as well, such as citrus, forcing the company to import more from outside the United States.

One of the many reasons why retailers come to Jacob’s Tomato is because of its integrity and honesty.

“We’re all about the end result,” Yusifov said. “We’re building a top team and looking to become a powerhouse in the Tri-State area.”