For Roland Tolls, the last year and a half has truly not been an easy time. As a member of the board of the Düsseldorf Traders' Cooperative and managing director of the Berger and Tolls operation, he has struggled both to secure the future of the Düsseldorf wholesale market and to deal with the effects of the corona pandemic.
On the current state of Düsseldorf's wholesale market
"The council of the city of Düsseldorf will still make a final decision on the situation of the wholesale market and decide whether the public operation, which has existed in this form for decades, will still exist. However, it is already being considered that the fruit and vegetable market and the flower market will remain together on Ulmenstrasse. In this respect, we are still in talks with the city," says Tolls. "We at the cooperative already believe that there is a good basis for negotiations with the city. Unfortunately, there are a couple of wholesalers outside the co-op who legitimately have their own ideas to solve the problem, but in the process make our talks a little more difficult." In addition, he hopes "that the city of Düsseldorf will eventually realize that for the last 30 years, the wholesale market property has been criminally neglected."
The dissolution of the wholesale market as a public facility was decided by the Düsseldorf City Council on July 1.
Winners and losers of the pandemic
For Tolls, during the pandemic, wholesale market traders can be divided into two groups: "First, there are those who do the classic wholesale business. Those are joined by people from the fruit and vegetable sector who run a retail business or are active at the weekly market. Their businesses did very well during the first Corona period."
In turn, the second group fared much worse: "Then there were those who primarily supplied their products to smaller businesses, various canteens, etc.; of course, they were the big losers." By his own admission, his company is among the latter: "We actually had an 80% drop in sales. We have ten trucks, eight of which were just standing around at times. 2020 was already a disaster and 2021 is faring even worse so far."
"In 2020, at least until mid-March, business was pretty good. Then the first lockdown came on March 16, 2020. Last year's summer was also relatively okay, but then the lockdowns restarted in October. This year, every single month has been a disaster. I'm really hoping that we will get back to about 70% sales in July, despite the summer holidays," Tolls concludes.
Good avocado sales, poor asparagus season
"Because of the lockdowns, foodservice to-go offerings in particular have become extremely popular. In that regard, stores that were actually good customers earlier now suddenly gave us a little bit of a boost, which at least allowed us to cushion the damage in a small way." According to Tolls, this was most evident in the demand for the rather hyped avocado. Tolls: "That I would be selling avocados by the pallet during a pandemic -in which I'm generating just 20% of my original sales-; I would never have imagined that."
He again sees asparagus as a counter-trend in this regard. "In 2020, the lockdown came right at asparagus time, which killed the season. This year it all went a little better, but it was still a relative disaster."
Nationwide wholesale market closures
He is critical of the trend of wholesale market closures. "This is, of course, about the aspect of profitability from the point of view of cities and municipalities. However, the pandemic has shown how important the wholesale markets are. What was being delivered from there in Düsseldorf in terms of fruit and vegetables to retailers, weekly markets, etc., was immense."
"Of course, we are also a troupe that plays a certain niche, because we sometimes have products that you can't just buy in retail. But above all, catering, hospitals, schools continue to be mainly supplied by the wholesale markets. We are also indispensable from an ecological point of view, as we are directly on site, with short transport distances and mainly regional products. I think that a wholesale market will always have a raison d'être," Tolls concludes.
For more information:
Berger & Tolls GmbH & Co. KG
Eickener Str. 40
41366 Schwalmtal
Tel.: +49 (0) 2163-576928-0
Fax: +49 (0) 2163-576928-19
E-Mail: [email protected]
Internet: www.bergerundtolls-fruechte.de
