Peter Condakes Co. scores big on food safety
- by Keith Loria | December 04, 2019
Peter Condakes Co. does business at the New England Produce Center in Chelsea, MA and the adjacent Boston Market Terminal in Everett, supplying fruits and vegetables to major supermarket chains, wholesalers, foodservice providers and restaurants throughout New England and the Canadian Maritimes.
“We just got the best ratings we’ve ever gotten on our food-safety inspection,” said Peter John Condakes, president of the company. “As you go through this year after year, you pick up things and keep adding to what you’re doing right, and our staff really picked things up. We were already scoring high, but we scored even higher and I’m really proud of everyone for achieving that.”
Peter Condakes Co. is based at the New England Produce Center in Chelsea, MA.As a 110-plus-year-old company that works with all major conventional produce commodities except potatoes, onions and watermelons, Peter Condakes Co. has experience in a great many areas, with a special interest in berry varieties, peppers, squashes, Western fruits, stone fruits and Florida citrus.
“Things in 2019 would best be defined as ‘steady as you go,’ which wasn’t better and not a whole lot worse than things in 2018,” Condakes said. “It was very quiet in the winter time and then we had a pretty good spring and summer season. The fall we were good, and November is typically not the best month of the year, so it’s slow right now.”
Tomatoes is another of the company’s specialties and with Thanksgiving typically not big on that produce item, the company sees a little slowdown. But things are expected to pick up in December and then rev higher and higher in the months ahead.
While he enjoys being in the Boston area, he’s not sure that being a success in the produce industry there is any different than it is in Fargo, ND or Dallas, TX.
“You just have to serve your customers the best you can and try and meet their needs, and if there’s ever a complaint or challenge, do your best to resolve the situation and keep going forward,” Condakes said.
The company’s primary customers are wholesalers and foodservice operators, but it has a nice share of smaller chain retailers. Major chains use the company’s products primarily for fill-ins.
Being in a terminal market, Peter Condakes Co. hasn’t invested too heavily in the organic market, even as the segment has risen in popularity.
“Organics didn’t grow up being sold in terminal markets, and the distribution is so different, so I don’t see them playing a big role in terminal markets anywhere,” Condakes said. “On the other hand, when things are being grown locally, it’s always in demand.”
He noted the company handled local produce before people even cared about the local movement, and have always had a great relationship with New England growers.
“Local is a huge deal, whether it’s peppers, tomatoes, squashes, cucumbers — all the vegetables someone might have in their yard,” he said. “In our area, if it’s grown in New England, we consider it local. Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Connecticut are all considered local for us.”
Expectations for the year ahead are a bit of a challenge, Condakes said, because its own suppliers are generally trying to sell its customers, so anything in retail where growth would be is gobbled up now.
“As far as foodservice, which I thought would carry on years and years, you are facing some challenges with younger generations using quick-serve restaurants and meals ready-to-eat coming out of the supermarkets,” Condakes said. “I think the whole Amazon-cation of delivery makes growth a little more challenging than it has been in the last couple of years.”
Condakes noted that there’s some big news coming out of the company soon, before 2019 comes to a close.
