It all started with a juicy, flavorful tomato. That’s how Craig Panneton, the executive chef at Pink Shell Beach Resort & Spa, connected with Terry Dean, co-owner of Happyfoods of Southwest Florida. The quality of Happyfoods produce impressed Panneton so much that the company now supplies about 90 percent of the produce served at the hotel.
Happyfoods buys and sells produce from local and national growers offering everything from white asparagus to dainty, miniature leeks, edible orchids and fingered citron, a kind of yellow citrus that resembles a thick, waxy blossom.
The Pink Shell is one of about 120 restaurants, country clubs and hotels that buy produce, high-end cheeses and other dairy, exotic and novelty food items from the Fort Myers-based company.
In the fourth quarter of 2010, the company grossed about $871,000 in revenue, up from about $439,000 for the same period a year ago –– a 98 percent increase.
The freshness of the produce they sell is the backbone of the business. Dean buys produce grown nearby so that it is picked ripe, with a full color and flavor. It allows him to sell food that may be two or three days old compared to the two-week-old produce sold by many food purveyors, he said.
“I know we spend more time and sell more locally-grown produce than anyone else,” Dean said about produce suppliers in Southwest Florida.
Although having a fresh product to sell to clients is important, Dean also values keeping dollars in the community, buying as much as he can from local growers and selling mostly to independent restaurants.
When he first opened the business eight years ago, Dean would visit the growers in person, said Bill Pangas, business development manager of Happyfoods.
Dean also focuses on customer satisfaction with the product, meeting their needs to replace any items that are lackluster, he said.
The company’s dedicated and attentive service also goes a long way, even offering a second daily delivery when restaurants run out of food or need another item.
“It’s uncommon to find someone who is willing to do that out on the islands here,” said Panneton at Pink Shell.
Making second runs to clients is a valuable service for restaurants who may have missed something in their first order or who have a last-minute function come up, he said.
Although some area restaurants have slimmed their spending budgets, Happyfoods has added 40 to 45 new customers to its client roster in the past year including about 15 who were acquired when Happyfoods purchased Sanibel Produce Co. in December.
The biggest asset gained in the transaction was Richard Hermansen, Sanibel Produce’s former owner, who brings his produce skills and business knowledge to Happyfoods, Dean said.
“We’ve grown because we treat everybody the same,” he said. “We’re fair in price and we’re cheap when it comes to customer service and product.”