On March 3, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine announced that the 200,000 expected spectators would not be allowed to attend the 2020 Arnold Sports Festival in Columbus, OH, to be held later that week. It would become the first cancellation of a major event in the United States due to concerns over the novel coronavirus, COVID-19.

Ervin Pavlofsky, chief business development for Premier ProduceOne, which is headquartered in Cleveland but has a facility in Columbus, as well as in Dayton, applauded the effort. “Our governor has really done a nice job during this crisis,” he said. “He has been very aggressive and consistent with his decisions.”

Pavlofsky makes that observation even though the governor’s actions regarding “the Arnold” and in closing down schools and other foodservice operations less than two weeks later has deeply cut into Premier ProduceOne’s business. “Foodservice represents about 95 percent of our business,” he said. “We do a little retail, but we took a bit hit almost overnight.”

He said the company is particularly strong in the school foodservice arena listing the Ohio State University and many other colleges and K-12 school districts on its customer list.

Though the company had little warning, it quickly swung into action trying to solve its immediate problem of clearing its inventory and cutting its expenses. “Our first reaction was to look at our customer’s needs and see what we had to do to continue to operate,” Pavlofsky said. “Initially, we furloughed half of our staff and reduced our delivery days from six days per week to four days. Then we started working with local retailers to get rid of the product we had on hand. Not only the product in our warehouses but we had a lot of product on the road en route.”

Partly because of the rush to supermarkets by shoppers in those first couple of weeks of March, Pavlofsky said the company’s calls to retailers produced some “nice luck.” They found willing buyers and were able to move the products that had to be sold.

Next order of business was to reach out to customers to see who was going to remain open. Some of the restaurant operators pivoted their operations and added takeout service. And some of the school districts announced plans to continue to provide meals to their students that were on the USDA’s subsidized school meal program. In addition, several charitable organizations, including food banks, increased their services and needed additional supplies.

These opportunities have caused Premier ProduceOne to pivot into several new directions as well as continuing to deliver to its restaurants customers that are offering to-go food. Pavlofsky said “less than 50 percent of our clients are doing takeout and I would say they are doing about 30 percent of the business they had before.”

During the pandemic, two additional areas that are providing Premier with business is the philanthropic deliveries as well as a new direct-to-consumer play. As mentioned, the company is working with many groups that are providing food to school children, hospital workers and the needy including the non-profit Feeding America, which supplies food to 200 foodbanks around the country. While some of this food is donated, Feeding America also has a buying department that regularly purchases fresh produce.

Premier has also begun offering pre-packaged boxes of produce directly to consumers that can be picked up at its facilities in its three major markets. “We have priced the boxes at $25 each and are making sure that they have a value of at least $35,” he said, adding that it is a fixed box of items based on what’s available.

Three days a week — Monday, Wednesday and Friday — consumers can come by the company warehouses between noon and 5 p.m. and buy a box. “We are very excited about our box program,” Pavlofsky said. “We are providing a great vlue to our customers and they love it. In this time of sheltering-in-place, it has become an outing for many people. We have had lines of cars a quarter mile long, and sell well over 1,000 boxes per week.”

The company is now expanding the offering to include specialty boxes that can be ordered online.

Pavlofsky is quick to point out that all of these efforts are not adding up to the same amount of sales that they were doing previously. But it has been enough business to allow the company to hire back some of its furloughed employees and to stay relevant during this difficult time. He is confident that industry groups — such as United Fresh Produce Association and Pro*Act, of which it is an associate — will represent the industry well when this is over and financial aid is needed. “I have a lot of confidence that this country will do the right thing by the restaurants and the hospitality industry when this is over. It’s going to be a long uphill climb, but we will get it done.”

Pavlofsky thinks it will be higher education across the country that will first signal we are getting back to close to normal. “I think the colleges and universities are going to lead the way,” he said. “When they go back and cafeterias start to open, we’ll be on our way.”