Anthony Shian Author 

What are Fruit and Veg Wholesalers? Are They Important?

What are Fruit and Veg Wholesalers? Are They Important?

Fruit and veg wholesalers play a vital part in ensuring that society has access to fresh food and maintains a balanced diet. But what exactly do they do? Well, these wholesalers are the middlemen between the fruit and vegetable items being produced and them going to market. 

Without them, our supermarkets and local stores would be of very short supply of nutritional goods. That way, we’d have to rely on a primarily carnivorous diet or more unhealthy freezer food and ready meals – we don’t know about you, but that’s a no thanks from us. Without fruit and veg wholesalers, the whole food and drink industry would suffer massively. 

Don’t worry if you’re not entirely sure what they are, or what they do – this post will outline everything you need to know, highlight the importance of them within their industry and the measures they must take to operate efficiently. 

 

We’ll cover: 

 

What are Fruit and Veg Wholesalers?

Fruit and veg wholesalers are the reason why our supermarket shelves are constantly stocked with a wide variety of fresh products. As we’ve said, they’re the middlemen between production and products going to market. They work directly with fruit and vegetable producers and food manufacturers to arrange transport from their warehouses to their own premises. 

From there, products are sold to supermarkets in bulk or taken to physical markets and sold to trade or individual customers. As fruit and veg wholesalers are businesses themselves, they’ll sell on the products that they source from the producers for a slight profit margin themselves. 

 

what are fruit and veg wholesalers

 

However, businesses don’t mind paying the extra costs due to convenience. Of course, large businesses could strike a deal with the supplier directly, but they’d have to do that with each producer. Whereas, if they work alongside a reliable fruit and veg wholesaler, they have access to a large range of products all in one place – saving them the time and money of shopping around. 

Fruit and veg wholesalers are busy, busy businesses. Not only that, but their reputation is also completely reliant on the freshness of the products that they supply. If they don’t transport the goods to their premises or keep their warehouse floor extremely clean, the quality of their product can quickly deteriorate – and therefore, their reputation will be tarnished too. 

 

The Importance of Fruit and Veg Wholesalers Within the Industry

Quite simply, without fruit and veg wholesalers, the whole food and drink industry would feel the impact. The fruit and vegetable industry contributes £989 million to the wider industry – that’s a substantial amount to the economy. Not only does it contribute to the economy but in 2020, a lot of people are more health-conscious than ever. Without fruit and vegetables, active people can’t get the required nutrition they need to fuel their training and recovery. 

The role of a wholesaler is vital to ensure the freshness of products when they arrive at the relevant store. Of course, the wholesaler could store and transport them perfectly, only for them to be mistreated and poorly handled at a later stage. But if they’re badly managed at the wholesaler stage, not only will they need to be disposed of, they’ll need to be replaced quickly to provide supermarkets, local stores and over the counter trade with their items. 

 

fruit and veg wholesaler importance

 

If fruit and veg wholesalers don’t deliver their products on time – nobody gets them on time. It’s likely that they have a lot of different clients to tend to. As a result of this, they have incredibly tight delivery slots to adhere to meet their strict deadlines. If things don’t run like clockwork and a delivery is missed for one store, it may cause a domino effect and various stores may lose out on their stock delivery as a result. 

So, when asked whether they’re important or not, the simple answer is a massive YES. Without wholesalers, stores have no fruit and vegetables. Without fruit and vegetables, we can’t promote a healthy lifestyle and a well-balanced diet. Plus, supermarkets and stores will soon get a bad name for themselves if they’re constantly out of stock of some of the most popular fresh products. 

 

The Main Hazards For Fruit and Veg Wholesalers

Loading and Unloading Deliveries

Wholesalers typically rely on two-way deliveries. With that being said, delivery bays are often very busy environments within the workplace. With increased busyness comes heightened pressure, which can enforce mistakes. Naturally, mistakes are going to happen, but when vehicles and manual lifting are involved, it can incur injuries – both minor and severe. 

Due to the unpredictability of the English weather, loading bays are often laced with standing rainwater and general traffic dirt. When warehouse workers are constantly nipping in and out of your premises, they’ll be traipsing potentially slippy dirt throughout your site. When loading bays are wet, it increases the chances of your workforce taking an unfortunate fall and hurting themselves. 

 

Harmful Bacteria

This all boils down to the cleanliness of your warehouse. When handling food products, it’s important that you adhere to the latest food hygiene regulations. Cleaning your warehouse properly ensures that the chances of cross-contamination are reduced. Contamination of products can mean that harmful bacteria is being spread around your workplace. Not only is that harmful to the condition of your products but also to your team members’ health. 

Your team members may become concerned if they’re constantly working around harmful bacteria – and rightly so. They may start questioning whether their hygiene manager actually cares about their wellbeing and it could lead to a demotivated workforce. Nobody deserves to go to work and worry about falling ill, do they?

 

Lack of Safety Precautions and Training

Within wholesale warehouses, there are various pieces of equipment that need operating. Of course, without the right training, accidents are more likely to happen. Unfortunately, due to the heavy-duty machinery, these accidents are likely to be severe – not just your typical graze or scratch. 

 

fruit and veg wholesalers training forklift

 

These warehouses are busy places, so there’ll no doubt be set procedures and ways of working in place to increase business efficiency. With that in mind, there’ll be plenty of safety precautions in place too to keep employees safe. If these aren’t delivered right during the onboarding process, your team will automatically be poorly positioned and the chances of accidents will be heightened further. 

 

Key Tips to Keep Operations Moving Efficiently

Streamline Processes Where You Can

Fruit and veg wholesalers often work around the clock to ensure that products are handled properly and deliveries are set to go out on time. If processes are unbelievably long, it means that more time is spent on projects than needs to be. Therefore, the added time spent on different projects means that businesses won’t be operating as profitably as they can. 

Wholesalers should look to shorten processes when they can. For example, cleaning your warehouse between shifts can be a long and laborious task – if you’re not using the right equipment, of course. So, in order to speed things up and make sure that a proper job is carried out every time, the introduction of an industrial floor cleaning machine may be beneficial. 

 

Reduce the Chances of Avoidable Downtime

Sometimes, downtime is unavoidable – for example, power outages can’t be helped and can bring your business to a full or partial standstill. If your business can’t operate, you can’t be efficient, right? Of course, unavoidable downtime is out of your hands, but if you’re constantly experiencing periods of downtime due to factors in your control, it’s poor practice. 

Not only will your business be performing poorly – with pushed back deadlines and disgruntled customers – but also, your reputation will be on the line too. Large supermarket chains won’t want to work with unreliable businesses that can affect their stock levels and overall performance. Constant downtime may end up costing your business. 

To reduce the chances of avoidable downtime, you should:

  • Train staff appropriately.
  • Regularly deep clean the workplace. 
  • Keep staff morale and motivation levels high.

 

Industrial Floor Cleaning Machines Can Benefit Fruit and Veg Wholesalers

As we’ve mentioned, fruit and veg wholesalers play a vital part within the food and drink industry. In order for them to operate as efficiently as possible, they need to streamline their processes effectively. One way they can do this is by investing in an industrial floor cleaning machine to improve the thoroughness and reduce the time taken to clean your site. 

It can be daunting when starting to look for the perfect machine for your business. But don’t worry – we’re here to help you out. To get you started, we’ve produced a free guide that outlines everything you need to know about the perfect machine for your business. From machinery recommendations to benefits they can bring to your business, it’s all in there for you to learn from. 

So, don’t hesitate and grab your copy today!