< PreviousFalls locations, and next-day delivery as far as Montana. The level of service provided by Grasmick Produce is exceptional.The company stands out in the produce distribution market as a result of its people, product quality, delivery service and suppli-ers. It has established relationships with the most reputable local suppliers in the business, and these have proven to be an essen-tial part of the company. “The produce business is one of the last businesses where you still largely do business with a supplier based on a handshake. It is a business with relationships based on trust and your integrity,” says Angela. Consumer desire for a fresh local product is growing with the farm-to-fork movement, and Grasmick is prepared for that future growth in the industry.It is expanding its facility in Boise, Idaho to enlarge its fresh-cut and custom-cut operations and its ability to provide innovative packaging solutions. The fifty thousand square feet of extra space will allow the company to increase its product range and storage space and improve its shipping process.“Consumer eating habits are changing, and there is an ever-increasing push for fresh, fast food,” explains Angela. “To stay relevant, Grasmick is innovating and will have to continue to innovate to meet the demand of its customers in all segments of the business: school, retail and foodservice, to allow its cus-tomers to meet the demands of the millennial generation.”There has also been a rising focus on produce sustainability. Consumers seek information about the origin of products and expect companies to be socially responsible. This multigenera-tional company is capable of merging its industry knowledge of the older generations with the newer perspective of the younger generation to remain competitive.“Throughout the decades, Grasmick has adhered to the same principles established by its founders: that honesty, integrity, reliability and hard work lead to strong partnerships and sus-tainable business success,” says Angela. “We believe in serving our community and being a good community partner.” Grasmick aims to foster the communities it serves in many ways. In the last year, the company donated to over forty chari-ties, particularly foundations for children. Each year, it chooses a different type of charity on which to focus its support, and regularly supports local food banks and zoos with produce or financial assistance. It has also heightened its focus on helping schools in the communities of its distribution area and serves four of the largest school districts in Idaho.The staff is committed to product quality and food safety. The company enforces strict handling requirements in its processes and engages in third-party audits and food safety awareness training to provide its customers with a safe, quality product that can be trusted. It is certified by PrimusGFS, the recognized global food safety initiative and auditing service that evaluates agricultural practices, manufacturing practices and food safety management systems to bring the produce industry closer to global food safety harmonization. Grasmick Produce and its owner have been recognized for out-standing work in the industry. The company was nominated for the Small Business of the Year in 2017 by the Boise Chamber of Commerce, and Angela Reed has been a recipient of the Women of Industry award and has been honored for her early success by the Idaho Business Review’s Accomplished Under 40 program. This fourth-generation business is looking the merge the old-fashioned ways of doing business with the modern, Angela Reed & Henry Joseph “Dutch” GrasmickMARCH 201820 ever-changing face of the produce industry. “There is so much change going on in the produce industry, and so many oppor-tunities that are arising because of that change. These changes not only relate to regulatory changes but also customer trends and technology,” says Angela. It now has a strong social media presence and offers online ordering through its website and a mobile app. The software for these changes has been groundbreaking for the company; over thirty percent of its orders now come through some elec-tronic means. Each customer has an individual profile for easy, fast access to produce. There is an increased call for a variety of products and new technology in the produce industry. Fresh and fast is the new way. The goal is to balance its roots in close business rela-tionships with the changing produce industry through inno-vation, without changing the core of how Grasmick Produce was built.“We believe in serving our community and being a good community partner.”21 BUSINESS IN FOCUS Featherstone Foods prides itself on making wholesale bread and baked goods distribution a piece of cake. This year, the premier New York bread wholesaler celebrates 35 years of business in the city…Written by Pauline MüllerFeatherstone Foods’ online ordering, speedy service and impeccable quality are tremendous advantages for chefs and caterers, who all know the frustration and time con-straints of dealing with multiple suppliers. And the company’s convenient invoicing system itemizes selections regardless of bakery, saving hours of precious time on paperwork. Indeed, Joel Schonfeld and his team proudly relieve the catering industry of all proverbial millstones involved in ordering baked goods. With a vast range of breads and sweets from over 25 top NYC bakeries, the company offers daily record-time delivery from multiple bakers. Its overnight manager’s shift starts at 10pm to ensure that each order is dispatched on time, while a sophisti-cated GPS system keeps deliveries on track every step of the way, seven days a week.Featherstone Foods’ 20 000 square foot warehouse is based in the Bronx, slightly north of Manhattan, and distributes in a 100-mile, or two-hour radius. The company delivers to Philadelphia in the south, the Hamptons in the east, the hills of New Jersey in the west, and north to Westchester and Connecticut.The team behind the label is as diverse as its offering, and works together as a family. There are folks from all over the world, including Ghana, Norway, Peru, Chile, Pakistan and Brooklyn – around 50 in total. Some employees have been with Featherstone Foods as long as 15 or 20 years, and the sense of goodwill and positivity is palpable. Every single person gets an office birthday party topped with a fabulous cake and a gift. The President not only composes a parody unique to the occasion, but he sings it too. “It’s fun and it really makes us a family. We’re here every day; you’re here and then you’re home. So we try and make it very pleasant,” says Joel. MARCH 201822 With happy vibes inspiring everyone, ‘no’ becomes obsolete. There is even a ‘no NO’ sign in the office to remind everyone of the team’s can-do ethos.hired two contributors who allowed him to stand back and see the bigger picture. Dave Zigler had worked as a purchaser in the hotel industry, and with his background and credibility, the company’s hotel client base has grown tremendously. Eli Richman had his own baked goods business in the 80s, and after handling production for the company who bought his business, he decided to join Featherstone Foods.The journey that led President, Joel Shonfield, to the wholesale bread industry was an interesting and, perhaps, fateful one. Joel started off with a very successful run in the fashion industry as a trained fabric designer, in the late 1970s. He loved it, but he saw little of the large sums of revenue he generated for the company. He built up the business from about $200,000 to about $2,000,000 in value but didn’t have much to show for his work. After some time at a fabric mill in Japan, he returned to America and decided to resign. “At Featherstone Foods, one swallow doesn’t make a summer and everyone is an appreciated, important part of the business.”Although his style has mellowed a lot, Joel still sees himself as very hands-on. For the first year, he did everything, includ-ing deliveries. This is why he appreciates how hard everyone works. At Featherstone Foods, one swallow doesn’t make a summer and everyone is an appreciated, important part of the business – like Maty Dioum, who Joel regards as the glue that holds the office together. About six years ago, Joel also It was 1982, and Joel was living in Manhattan and working as a waiter. A friend became a manager of a bakery called Hot and Crusty, which belonged to people from Zimbabwe. They were the first to bring European breads to New York City, and they soon noticed that Joel was a good salesperson. They suggested that he start up a bread wholesaler. Today, he laughs at the memory. “I told them I don’t know anything about bread, but that’s what I ended up doing,” he says. For two years, he didn’t sleep much, because he did everything himself. He took orders, did deliveries, expanded his bakery portfolio, got some more drivers and before he knew it, he had 35 drivers and around 20 bakeries on his books. The timing was superb. Although he had to borrow money from a friend to buy a van with a hole by the gas pedal, New York City saw the dawn of celebrity chefs and he was set to soar – despite getting wet in the rain.“In the 1980s, when chefs became celebrities, their restaurants became very famous and bread suddenly became an important part of the equation.”“Up until then, bread wasn’t really important, but in the 1980s, when chefs became celebrities, their restaurants became very famous and bread suddenly became an important part of the equation,” Joel tells us. Restaurants like Le Bernardin, Gotham Grille and Montrachet all wanted the best bread. It was the perfect time to get started, and the business really MARCH 201824 took off. Today, Featherstone Foods’ client profile comprises mainly whole foods companies, bigger corporate caterers, country clubs, and similar.It helps that the company is extremely versatile. If a client wants a baked product that isn’t in its collection, Joel and his team will go out and find a bakery who will create exactly what that client needs.“You get prompt delivery, save heaps of time, and get superb service at the same price as you would at the bakery.”“Joel’s advice for young start-ups is to get into something that you love – things will happen from there.” With rising costs, ordering from Featherstone Foods just makes sense. You get prompt delivery, save heaps of time, and get superb service at the same price as you would at the bakery. “When we have a new prospective customer I’m with them for an hour. I take what we call the exciting, ‘wow!’ items. An hour might be a long time, but it gives you a customer for life. It’s worth investing an hour in your customer,” says Joel. He believes in being creative when it comes to introducing new products. “Nobody’s interested in a dog and pony show,” he says. “It is important to know who your customer is and to adapt to his or her needs.”This creativity also shows in many of the company’s products. Featherstone Foods has a pretzel crossed with a croissant and a sandwich called a pullapart, which is a long, scored loaf that allows one to make a whole load of two-bite sandwiches in one go, rather than wasting time on making individual sandwiches. Of course, an NYC bakery business wouldn’t be the real deal without bagels. Featherstone Foods carries three different ranges, and the most popular one is the hand-rolled, boiled bagel. Donuts are also back on the scene in a big way featuring some very unique artisan donuts, available in a variety of flavors and sizes. Joel’s advice for young start-ups is to get into something that you love – things will happen from there. He also believes in treating one’s workers like you would like to be treated. The company is as generous to charity as Joel is with his advice. There are a few good causes close to his heart, but the company mainly supports the Ronald McDonald House for children with cancer, as well as one of Paul Newman’s summer camps for children with cancer. “We like to contribute where we can see it makes a difference,” he says. Featherstone Foods considers itself to be the ‘eyes and ears’ of the local food industry, which on the whole doesn’t really have the time to go out and talk to people and scour the market. The attention the company pays to its customers reflects in its continued growth. Its vision for the future is simple: utilizing all the new technology available in a big way.Instead of increasing its already large footprint, the company prefers to focus on increasing the size of its orders, because the company believes in supporting its customers all the way. With this incurable passion for service, the team at Featherstone Foods is set to supply New York City with more than just its daily bread for a very long time to come. 25 BUSINESS IN FOCUS MARCH 201826 Written by Jessica Ferlainooffers “full vertical integration from concentrate manufactur-ing to distribution, dispenser equipment installation, 365-day emergency repair service, topped by caring customer and sales service.” Today, the company serves a variety of customers including camps, coffee shops, delicatessens, convenience stores, piz-zerias and other fast food eateries, casual and fine dining res-taurants, pubs, clubs and bars, healthcare facilities, schools and sports venues. In addition to Sea Breeze, as well as respected regional brands, some of the national brands carried include Jones, 7UP, Dr Pepper, Mistic, Stewarts, Royal Crown, New York Bash, Teafresco, Toshimi and Tropic Beach.While the supply and installation of food service dispensing equipment is limited to New York and New Jersey, its consumer syrups, such as world-famous Bosco® chocolate syrup, are sold worldwide under a variety of labels.Customers rely on Sea Breeze for its outstanding carbon-ated, non-carbonated and diet drinks as well as iced tea and lemonade, real fruit juices, flavored water, energy drinks, cocktail mixes, smoothies and coffee concentrates. It also carries equipment such as ‘bar guns’ dispensers, liquid coffee machines, gravity dispensers, smoothie machines and spray machines, in addition to carbon dioxide tanks. Dispensing systems are custom designed for each installation. Sea Breeze products are manufactured with limited waste for a minimal carbon footprint. Its five-gallon bag-in-a-box can produce 427 twelve-ounce drinks with less packaging, which means lower packaging costs and simplified transportation, distribution and storage. “We drive costs out of the equation by having products that are concentrated, avoiding the huge carbon footprint of first creation, then packaging and transport. This is the advantage we have with concentrates over packaged beverages,” said Sanders.The Sea Breeze team of Sales Associates helps customers design signature beverage programs, choosing from the largest variety of concen-trates one could imagine. Service is crucial to making the company stand out from the crowd. “Because we go the extra mile beyond our competitors, that’s how we maintain and grow our business – by adding more customers by word-of-mouth referrals,” third generation owner Steve Sanders noted.Since its inception, Sea Breeze has listened to the needs of its customers and adjusted to changing public tastes for beverages. By remaining attuned to the pulse of its market, it has created a selection of products that is growing by the day. Added fourth generation owner Josh Sanders, “Our field rep-resentatives see opportunities for new beverages and other concentrates and recommend those to management to evaluate. After management review, we proceed to R&D [research and development], internal and field testing and development.” This has been a smart strategy to ensure that its products are well-received.Adapting to customer needs has been part of the company since the beginning. “In 1925, my grandfather started the business with seltzer, adding on syrups a few years later, delivering to customers one by one with a horse-drawn truck. He added on the fountain syrups trying to diversify,” Steve Sanders said.Mr. Sanders focused on vertically integrating oper-ations and made service the overriding theme. The business started with distribution and added dispensing equipment installation and service to its offerings. Sea Breeze Established in 1925, Sea Breeze is proud of its history of innovation and tradition of excellent service that has spanned four generations. Although the largest family-owned manufacturer and distributor of premium beverage concentrates and syrups in the New York and New Jersey metropolitan area, it continues to develop its already impressive product range. Chef Gerard Murphy27 BUSINESS IN FOCUS “When you talk about concentrates, we feature bag-in-box,” said Sales and Marketing Leader Jonathan Samuel. “Once mixed, that concentrate is going to create thirty gallons of beverage. Imagine thirty gallons of soda in cans or bottles, how much waste there is, how much room it takes up and how much labor it takes to carry all of that.” Sea Breeze recycles over ninety-five percent of the waste from its production processes which makes it good for the customer and the environment. “We’ve brought the same concept to food ingredients. Now we have food ingredients that dispense through similar dispensing equipment that really reduces the carbon footprint,” Sanders said.Sanders noted that beverages, the primary area of Sea Breeze’s business, have been evolving in recent years. “We’ve now turned our attention to a new potential innova-tion created by Chef Gerard Murphy to easily dispense liquid food ingredients at the chef’s workstation.” So Root & Vine liquid food ingredient concentrates were created by Sea Breeze under the direction of Chef Gerard to provide chefs and restaurateurs the same sustainable advantages of con-centrated beverages such as space savings, no waste, simplicity, consisten-cy and convenience at the push of a button – fresh on demand. Sea Breeze will offer Root & Vine concentrated chicken, beef and vegetable demi and broths, cooking wines, vinegars, lemon juice, simple syrups and more from a kitchen gun, with the same bag-in-box packaging as its concentrated bever-ages. It will be a welcome addition for the health boards as it will provide a sealed, sanitary, high-quality solution to many problems that are commonly experienced in commercial kitchens. No preparation or end of shift cleanup is required.“Chef Gerard looked to us to commercialize this invention and bring it to market. After three years of R&D, internal and field testing, we are now just bringing this to chefs in the metro New York area with a very exciting reception,” said Sanders. “Sometimes an opportunity can be staring you in the face, and you don’t see it; we see it.” Another new opportunity for Sea Breeze is ice making equip-ment. It has embarked on a Hoshizaki ice maker and bin rental program, which includes full service and periodic full cleaning, taking the headache out of ice machine ownership.Sea Breeze has worked diligently to establish standards by which ice machine rental operations are regulated. “We initi-ated an effort to create ice maker and bin cleaning and sanitiz-ing food safety guidelines for operators,” Sanders said.This joint project with the International Society of Beverage Technologists (ISBT) and the International Beverage Dispensing Equipment Association (IBDEA) – of which Sanders is currently president – established a regulatory code which views ice as a food product as per the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). MARCH 201828 “We did not want to go into the icemaker business until we had a guideline created for operators, and we initiated this effort through a couple of trade associations that we’re active in. We initiated this way back a number of years ago and finally got it to fruition,” said Sanders. The guidelines clearly lay out who is responsible for ensuring machines are properly cleaned and maintained. Many of the company’s eighty employees have been with the company for decades. Once they reach two decades with the company, they are rewarded with a company car. On any given day, the parking lot at Sea Breeze is full of company cars, proving the power of the company culture.“Our work culture is conducive to hard work, loyalty and creativ-ity,” Sanders said. Sea Breeze has the structure to sustain any growth in demand. Its markets now include front- and back-of-the-house concentrate and equipment solutions. Its state-of-the-art laboratory, stringent quality control pro-cesses and attention to detail all lead to the manufacture and distribution of concentrates of the highest quality. Sea Breeze is Safe Quality Food (SQF) Certified, meaning its products have sustainable, documented quality. “Our laboratory ensures that everything we process is up to the standards that are defined, enabling us to sleep at night, so we have no product release unless it passes the standards. We’re very methodical and very careful,” Sanders stated. “If it’s not documented, it didn’t happen, and that’s the concept of this rigorous certification. “We provide the best overall value beverage concentrates and service in our market, and now we will update that to include Root & Vine liquid food ingredient concentrates. Being consis-tent, ethical and nice is a job requirement, especially with our field people who reflect who we are. We need them to sign on to that concept to keep our mission statement true,” said Sanders. “If we can demonstrate success and we can make it here in New York – like the song says – we can make it anywhere, and we feel we have a network of distributors located throughout the United States who can introduce this product.” Sanders acknowledges that it will take time but wants to ensure the company can demonstrate success and maintain the level of service on which it has built its reputation. “Sometimes an opportunity can be staring you in the face, and you don’t see it; we see it.”29 BUSINESS IN FOCUS Next >