In NYC, there are plenty of produce vendors on the street that sell aesthetic, fresh fruit for less than cost conscious mega-chains, like Wal Mart, Trader Joes, and Wegmans. The big chains have negotiating power, wholesale discounts, and economies of scale to help them profit on tiny margins. So, how is it that my small, local, fruit stand can outcompete pricewise with national chains and still stay afloat?
In: 2607
I used to work at a fruit stand and fruit distribution center.
One is “overhead.” Two is “volume.”
A lot of times the fruit distribution center will only have a few pallets of a certain fruit. Maybe they only have 5 pallets of a certain type of strawberry. The big box stores won’t want this group of strawberries because it’s not enough to fill their shelves. That gives the smaller places a chance to get them for cheap.
The other way to get fruit for cheap is to buy slightly older fruit. If it didn’t sell the first day it was there, it’ll be sold cheaper the next day. Yes, this means there will be more “bad” product on the pallet. Product that has spoiled or has a bit of mold. The big stores won’t want this again because it won’t last long enough to make it to their shelves. The small fruit stands can go ahead and buy this and literally cherry pick the good fruit to sell it THAT DAY. We used to do this all the time. We’d buy fruit that was actually ripe and wouldn’t last a few more days, then sell it THAT day.
Basically, small fruit stands can buy cheaper fruit because it’s A: already ripe or B: too small a quantity for larger stores to want and C: don’t have overhead to drive the price up.
EDIT: On a related note if you work at one of these places. Definitely don’t snack on a bunch of cherries as you work. Lots of fruit has a LOT of fiber…. Just sayin.
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