Supermarkets demand perfect produce: Tom Palusak
Tom Palusak, Produce Manager of Choice Mart in Captain Cook.When Tom Palusak started working as produce manager in 2007, he felt it was important that local produce was well represented in Choice Mart’s offerings. Many of the store’s customers are local farmers from the area, and it was only natural and appropriate to give customers the opportunity to buy local. Four years later, about 50% of Choice Mart’s produce comes from Hawai‘i farmers.
Palusak buys his produce both through four large produce distributors and directly from about 50 local farmers. Produce on supermarket shelves must look perfect—blemish free, correct stage of maturity, and good color, size, and shape. While other markets can tolerate some imperfections, such as restaurants, who can remove small blemishes during food preparation, supermarket customers complain about any imperfections. Also, most people expect much higher quality from supermarkets compared with farmers markets. Distributors already know this, however, this is something many new farmers do not understand.
Palusak will consider buying from any farmer who contacts him directly and comes to the store by appointment. Some new farmers expect that a market will buy anything they bring in, regardless of quality, and they can become angry when Palusak turns them away with poor quality produce. A serious mistake is to bring in imperfect produce, especially hiding imperfect produce under perfect in the boxes. Another common mistake is to fail to deliver a promised quantity or fail to meet a promised time of delivery. Palusak keeps track of good and bad farmers in a logbook, which he refers to whenever farmers approach him about buying their produce. Through the four years since Palusak began working at Choice Mart, about 50 farmers no longer supply him due to many reasons, including poor performance and leaving farming.
Even for Palusak’s very best suppliers, he cannot always purchase everything they deliver because he wants to have several suppliers for every item. Having several suppliers increases the opportunities for consistent stocking of any given item. Palusak recommends that farmers diversify their markets, just as he diversifies his sources. The best way to consistently receive Palusak’s business is to be trustworthy in delivery times and to always deliver high quality, fresh, unblemished produce.
This market profile was excerpted with kind permission of the authors from:
Elevitch, C., N. Milne, and J. Cain. 2012. Hawai‘i Island Farmer’s Guide to Accessing Local Markets. Hawai‘i Community College Office of Continuing Education and Training, Center for Agricultural Success, and Permanent Agriculture Resources. http://hawaiihomegrown.net/pdfs/Hawaii-Island-Guide-to-Accessing-Markets.pdf