Photo report Specialty Produce Market, San Diego

Last week I visited the Specialty Produce Market from Bob Harrington in San Diego. In 1977 Harrington started his shop La Jolla Produce, and he started supplying to local hotels and restaurants in 1988. Two years later he founded Specialty Produce with his two brothers.

Customers can still visit the wholesaler’s from 8 to 5 o’clock every day of the week, but the majority of sales take place with more than 50 small lorries presenting the broad assortment of fresh produce to local hotels and restaurants like so many mobile supermarkets, so chefs can taste the products for themselves. 

That does not happen entirely without merit. By now, Specialty Produce has a turnover with the lorries of 49 million dollar per year. At the wholesaler’s itself, another 1 million dollars worth of products is sold, almost doubling sales in five year’s time. The customer base now comprises 1,000 hotels and restaurants. Harrington also had a message for the participants of Hazera’s ‘Exploring the West’ study tour: “Innovations in restaurants start with seed breeding. That is why we are also very interested in your work.” 

The assortment of 2,000 products is one hotel and restaurant owners love to get their hands on. “We build long-term relationships with our esteemed customers, suppliers, employees and community, and we encourage cooperation between them. Furthermore, we listen to and anticipate the needs of our customers, no matter how complex those wishes might be,” Harrington explains. 

“Of course we also have to deal with market prices, but we sell an experience. And good flavour always sells. When you have good flavours, you are always out of stock,” Harrington says. The assortment is incredibly broad with both local products and exotic ones, conventional and organic. The effort to build a special organic department was also fruitful, for the organic sales doubled in the last 12 months.

Specialty Produce pays much attention to social media. “Using this, we can reach many chefs with short films and information on cultivation seasons and the uses of our products. We have our own app for that and at the wholesaler’s we start every day with new films. Chefs can even use our app to create a personalised cookbook. And good experiences are always shared,” Harrington concludes. “When it’s about food: #specialtyproduce!”