Nearly 20 years ago, Frischezentrum Melzig moved to its new location with a refrigerated warehouse in the southwest of Aschaffenburg. From there, the wholesale company evolved into a full-range supplier in the fruit and vegetable sector and became a renowned partner of regional gastronomy, community catering, and the retail food industry. Today, the company's catchment area extends to Mainz, Fulda, and Mannheim. On the occasion of the company's 75th anniversary, we spoke with sales manager Denis Piper about the past years and the future of wholesale.
In recent years, Melzig has recorded annual growth of 10 to 20 percent. Particularly in the retail food sector, there have been interesting increases. Piper: "The fact that we supply both the trade and restaurateurs was naturally an advantage during the Covid years. Meanwhile, our customer base consists of two-thirds trade customers and one-third from gastronomy and community catering. This high proportion of retail customers and the associated risk is quite high, which is why we hired a new salesman with the goal of gaining more foothold in gastronomy and further expanding this sector."
Denis Piper from Melzig Ltd in Aschaffenburg. Tom Nassall and Bastian Wissel have been at the helm of the company, which employs about 50 people, for several years.
No more paper
A major focus of the wholesale company is to continue advancing and refining the digitalization of daily routines, continues Piper. "We have largely succeeded in this by being able to work almost paper-free today. Every employee of our company has their own tablet. We also make investments every year to further optimize digitalization, as we firmly believe that cost savings and process optimization will lead to long-term success. Digital processes are also safer and more efficient, especially in commissioning, which in turn contributes to reducing the error rate."
Fruit in the Melzig warehouse. Citrus fruits of recognized brands Struwwelpeter, Götterfrucht, and Diana as well as German Xenia pears.
The Spanish strawberry campaign is gradually picking up speed.
Full range and regional products
Over the years, Melzig Ltd has developed into a full-range supplier. Piper points out the seasonal example of citrus. In the company's fruit warehouse, oranges, lemons, etc., of all premium brands, whether Struwwelpeter, Götterfrucht, or Diana are to be found. In addition, the company has also been a licensed marketer of SanLucar products for about a year. Among the regional partners is the herb producer Böttcher from Bürstadt in southern Hesse. "We try to offer regional products not only to our direct customers nearby but also to those in Mainz or Würzburg where possible. Accordingly, we maintain a very broad network of producers."
Bimi broccoli has gained rapid importance since its market launch a few years ago.
Organic and convenience on the rise
As a partner of the trade and gastronomy, the Melzig sales team experiences the trends in the fruit and vegetable sector firsthand. "Organic is still in demand and we try to meet this increasing demand with domestic products like cultivated mushrooms," explains Piper. Another growth trend is evident in the convenience sector. "What is decreasing are the production companies, especially in our region. In recent years, several major suppliers have disappeared. There is still sufficient volume available: With rising wages, also for kitchen staff, the demand for convenience goods, in my opinion, will only continue to increase," Piper concludes.
The Melzig company trucks are in operation daily, working within a radius of up to 200km.
For more information:
Denis Piper
Frischezentrum Melzig
Magnolienweg 46,
63741 Aschaffenburg
Phone: 0 60 21 / 150 87 – 0
Fax: 0 60 21 / 150 87 – 10
Email: info@melzig-gmbh.de
www.melzig-gmbh.de