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\\u201cFood is culture! It doesn\\u2019t matter what socio-economic status, what type of food access you have, every single person is united by food.\\u201d

Lori Taylor (16:29-16:41)

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Imagine waking up each morning in early 1900s New York City, driving your horse and wagon to the local farm, filling it with fruits and vegetables, and staying out all day until you\\u2019ve sold all of your produce.

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That was the start of S. Katzman Produce, which is now a 120 year old, fourth-generation owned, produce wholesaler and distributor with 375 employees and over 2,000 items they sell. Talk about a progression! Stefanie Katzman, the Executive Vice President of S. Katzman Produce, shared with us the story of her great grandfather\\u2019s humble beginnings and how they progressed to selling fruit and vegetables out of his wagon, to moving their location to Hunts Point in the Bronx, to adding specialty items to their product line, to becoming the produce industry icon they are today.\\xa0

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\\u201cWe want to figure out, as the customer\\u2019s needs change, how we can adapt and fulfill those needs. You don\\u2019t want to tell them, \\u2018no, do things our way\\u2019, we want to be progressive. We want to get out there and find the next best thing.\\u201d - Stefanie Katzman (8:33-8:46)

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Stefanie accredits much of their growth to the produce industry\\u2019s growth as a whole. Can you think back to what your grocery store shopping experience was like in 1995 compared to now? Luckily, most suburban and metropolitan areas around the US have access to an incredible variety of produce year-round. That wasn\\u2019t always the case. Also, as our lifestyles have changed from having family dinners every night around the table, to being more fast paced and on-the-go, the produce industry has adapted.\\xa0

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For example, in 2004 S. Katzman Produce started doing deliveries to their customers free of charge. Katzman works with a lot of smaller supermarkets around the New York area where, oftentimes, the owner does everything themselves. They\\u2019ll come to S. Katzman\\u2019s location late at night, do their shopping for the next day, drive back to the store, stock their shelves, and work the register without any sleep. It was that same mentality and quick ability to adapt that helped S. Katzman Produce stay successful when COVID-19 first hit.\\xa0

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Katzman and her team immediately provided employees with training videos, made sure they were following the CDC guidelines, offered employees protective equipment, and increased cleaning crews to two to three times a day. It was essential to keep her employees safe, but also their wholesalers, distributors and customers.

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What\\u2019s just as important to S. Katzman Produce is being able to help people and children who can\\u2019t help themselves, and making a difference in children\\u2019s lives while they\\u2019re still young.

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1. Katzman Produce has partnered with Dream Charter School at their location in Harlem and the Bronx to donate food weekly and help ensure children are fed healthy food at a young age. When COVID-19 hit, impressively, Dream set up a distribution system within a few weeks and Katzman started donating even larger amounts of produce each week to provide fresh, healthy produce for Dream\\u2019s children and their entire families.\\xa0

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\\u201cIf you can instill these good habits and good behaviors in children when they\\u2019re young, you\\u2019re going to create healthy people when they\\u2019re older. You\\u2019re going to create people who have a taste for these fruits and vegetables, so being able to get to them is very important.\\u201d - Stefanie Katzman (13:07-13:20)

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These children and their families are getting exposed to foods they might not have ever seen or heard of before, while (hopefully) acquiring a taste for healthy food at a young age to create lasting results. The feedback Katzman has gotten is incredible! Even during a pandemic, families are reporting that they are losing weight and enjoying the best health of their life because of this.\\xa0

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Stefanie\\u2019s also passionate about the wide variety of items they offer and how many new products there are! New varieties of old products, new packaging, never-seen-before products, and even the science of extending shelf life keeps the produce industry and life at S. Katzman\\u2019s always exciting.\\xa0

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How to get involved

• Join The Produce Moms Group on Facebook and continue the discussion every week!\\xa0
• Reach out to us - we\\u2019d love to hear more about where you are in life and business! Find out more here.\\xa0

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If you liked this episode, be sure to subscribe and leave a quick review on iTunes. It would mean the world to hear your feedback and we\\u2019d love for you to help us spread the word!