12/24/02
By CAROL KINSLEY
Dennis Randolph, Wal-Mart’s regional buying teamleader for the Northeast territory, will be on hand at the Delaware Vegetable Growers meeting Thursday, Jan. 9, at the Harrington Fairgrounds Exhibit Hall, to discuss direct store deliveries from grower to store
“The whole thing is coordinated by the regional buying office, so there will be no doubt what is allowed. The whole process is organized and there’s a well-laid plan so both the store and the grower know what plan is and it can be executed.
Prior to the fresh produce season here, Wal-Mart will identify suppliers (growers) who are able to make deliveries to various stores. “We identify what items we would want, delivery days, the actual price for that season,” Randolph said. Items will include homegrown cantaloupe, watermelon and sweet corn.
Deliveries are made direct to the back door of the store and out to the sales floor. Customers get the freshest proeduct available — “from the door to the floor,” Randolph said.
“We try to provide product from the start of season to the end, which does limit the number of suppliers,” he continued. There are six supercenters in Delaware now, and others in Maryland, Virginia and Pennsylvania, all handled by Richard Hite in Bedford, Pa.
Randolph declined to give Hite’s telephone number. Interested growers will have to come to the meeting, he said. He wants an opportunity to present the whole program to them.
“We’d definitely like to create more relationships. We’re looking for long-term, not just the daily process of what the market brings,” he said.
There is opportunity for the “green” industry, too. The buyer for plants and flowers is located in Bentonville, Ark. Information for horticultural will be available at the meeting also.
Wal-Mart does like to promote the products as locally grown.
“While we don’t put the grower’s name in the store, we do put location where the product came from. We also like to have growers come to store on Saturday or during the week to let our customers see the grower, to celebrate the fact that this grower is providing product for the store. We’ve done it in several locations. It’s absolutely successful.
“Fortunately, with growers we’ve used in the past in other states, they’re part of the community already. Customers have gone to their U-pick farm or where their roadside stands are, so they recognize the growers. This works to be a much bigger element than if we put up a poster or sign.”