P50: Growing a Produce Biz from 0¢ to $130 Million a Year! The Story of Phil Gilardi & Freshway Foods.
Video & Audio of Our Call:
Background:
Phil Gilardi is the Co-Owner and Co-Founder of Freshway Foods. In 1988, Frank Gilardi Jr. and Phil Gilardi developed a business plan for a new produce business. They purchased the assets of their father’s wholesale business, and began Freshway Foods with a truck and five orders for vegetables processed for delivery. In the early days of the business, they worked out of a small, 7,000 square foot processing facility. Frank was both the salesman and the delivery driver. Phil led the processing team and packed orders for shipment.
By 1992, the business had expanded to the point where it had outgrown the current processing facility, and a new building was constructed. A second facility was added in 1996. In 2000, Frank and Phil broke ground on the company’s current facility, which today consists of over 100,000 square feet of state-of-the-art refrigerated processing and distribution space.
As the business continued to grow, the Gilardi’s recognized the need for their own transportation and logistics company that could offer reliable, on-time service, thus Freshway Logistics was born. Today, their fleet consists of over 50 energy efficient trucks. In 2013, Freshway Foods celebrated 25 years in business. In 2016, Freshway Foods was acquired by US Foods.
Time-Stamped Show Notes:
- [0:55] Phil Gilardi is 50 years old and based in Sydney, Ohio. He started Freshway Foods in 1988 and sold it in 2016.
- [1:48] Freshway Foods is best described as a fresh-cut produce processor. Phil explains what they do in Freshway Foods.
- [6:07] Using a bomb and a long fuse as an analogy, Phil explains how they handle the distribution of their fresh produce to the end-users.
- [8:08] All their outbound freight uses their own trucking company, Freshway Logistics, which consists of fifty semi-trucks.
- [10:52] Having been in the fresh produce business for 26 years, they tested the market to find other businesses that they can acquire or businesses that want to acquire them.
- [12:20] At a very young age, Phil was exposed to the fresh produce business.
- [14:46] In 1985, after high school, Phil decided not to go to college and go straight to the produce business with his family.
- [16:43] After shutting down the family business in 1987, Phil and his brother talked about starting their own produce business.
- [20:44] Phil remembers the very first day of operation of Freshway Foods.
- [24:18] During the first few years of Freshway Foods, when they needed to buy new equipment for the business, Phil would borrow money from the bank and use his car as collateral. This happened several times in order for the company to get off the ground.
- [27:37] The day-to-day operation of Freshway Foods was very hectic for both Phil and his brother during the early days of the company.
- [30:49] In 1991, Phil had to buy their investors out.
- [32:18] Phil shares the story of how they built a new processing plant.
- [35:55] Moving into a new processing plant with better high-tech equipment, Phil thought that they could move to a one-shift operation. This was one of the hard lessons he learned in this business.
- [40:17] Phil talks about the year that they finally became profitable.
- [44:00] From 1995 to 2000, there was huge growth for Freshway Foods, leading to their state-of-the-art 60,000 square foot fresh-cut produce processing plant.
- [47:50] They were awarded the Fresh Cut Produce Processor of the Year in 2002, which was one of the highlights of Phil’s career.
- [50:12] The Florida operation plant was not profitable for Freshway Foods. In 2008, they shut it down.
- [55:28] One of Phil’s proudest moments in his career was working with Panera Bread.
Fabulous 4 Questions:
- 📖📚 Favorite Books? How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss
- 🙌😎 Favorite Amazon.com purchase? DJI Drone
- 🌱💸 Favorite Tool that's GROWN your Business? Microsoft Excel
- 💭💡 BIGGEST Challenge keeping your Business from GROWING? Ever changing regulatory
Key Point from the Interview:
- “When you take a business through a major major, I would say it’s a disruption, when you shut a building down and move everybody to a brand-new building with mostly brand-new equipment. That’s a major disruption, you have to factor in a period of time to get acclimated to all that. And we didn’t do that and that was painful, big lesson, but we got through it.”
Resources Mentioned:
- LinkedIn: Phil Gilardi
- Freshwayfoods.com
- Phil and Frank Gilardi Sell Freshway Foods
- US Foods is Acquiring Freshway Foods
- Freshway Foods Celebrates Their 25 Years Of Growth
- Phil and Frank Gilardi Together with Freshway Foods Associates are Honored for Service & Safety
Secret Resources:
