Wishnatzki Farms
Wishnatzki Farms
History
The Wishnatzki Family has been selling produce to consumers since 1922. It all started with Harris Wishnatzki selling fresh fruits and vegetables from a push cart in New York City. He expanded the enterprise by wholesaling produce to another push cart merchants--and it didn't stop there. His next step was to build his own fleet of carts. The daily responsibility of filling multiple carts with top quality produce was an ongoing challenge. To provision the fleet, Harris established a distribution center that soon expanded to serve independent retailers.
During a winter respite in Florida, Harris Wishnatzki visited strawberry farms in Plant City. He envisioned bringing fresh strawberries to fruit-deprived consumers in the frozen north. Challenges with transporting perishable goods were eventually overcome and New York hub began distributing fresh fruit. Thanks to Harris, Plant City growers gained access to large American markets
Today, over 6 million packages of fresh fruit and vegetables are delivered annually.
Wishnatzki Farms today
- Wishnatzki Farms provides produce such as strawberries, blueberries, peppers, tomatoes, beans, cucumbers, eggplant, okra, PEAS, squash and melons to chain stores, wholesalers, restaurant suppliers and institutional buyers throughout the U.S. and Canada.
- Markets produce under the Wishnatzki Farms, Strawberry Joe and Clear Choice brand names.
- Distributes other brands for growers with whom it partners.
- Wishnatzki Farms is vertically integrated--a grower, shipper, packer, and broker.
- Innovated an industry leading system called FreshQC. This FreshQC system allows Wishnatzki Farms to communicate directly with people buying his produce. "It's not just AbOUT food safety, but food quality".
- Gary Wishnatzki and Wishnatzki Farms have been very ACTIVE in the local community. Gary is very adamant about supporting the needs of the state's migrant workers. He started a tennis tournament to generate money to educate the children of migrant workers. The 5th annual tournament will be held March 13, 2010 and is expected to net close to $100,000 towards the Redlands Christian Migrant Association capital campaign. This capital campaign is aimed at building classrooms to help serve children of migrant workers. Today, RCMA serves nearly 8,000 children of migrant farm workers and rural, low income families in more than 75 centers throughout Florida.
Competitive Differentiation
Wishnatzki Farms maintains market dominance by continuously introducing innovative products and adopting unique ways of doing business.