New York City’s Hunts Point Produce Market, the largest produce market in the world, has officially launched its rebrand and new website. After more than 200 years in the business, the market leaders collectively decided to forge into the future with a definitive purpose: to continue to meet customer needs of today while future-proofing for customer needs of tomorrow.
Highlights of the rebrand include a new logo, new tagline (We Know Best) and new messaging for the market, which is a cooperative consisting of more than 30 merchants. The goal, said Sasha LoPresti, chair of the public relations committee for the Hunts Point Produce Market, is to emphasize Hunts Point Market’s strengths, expertise and history. The tagline is the backbone of the new brand system while the logo embraces the pillars of the brand story — service, variety and expertise.
“The message we are putting out there is simple — we are experts who specialize in produce, unlike anybody else,” said LoPresti. “We know freshness, we know variety, we know service, we know logistics. We have customers that run the gamut from an individual who gets together with a few friends and buys boxes of produce, to major retailers — and everything in between. Foodservice, mom-and-pop shops, you name it.”
Part of the rebrand includes a new website. The new website is meant to be a resource for people to learn about what Hunts Point Produce Market has to offer and how to navigate the market when there. For example, a dedicated page features a map of the market and a list of merchants that include phone numbers and websites. There is a “who we are” page that features facts about the market: that it sources produce from 49 states and 55 countries; that it offers thousands of varieties of fruit and vegetables; that it supplies 60 percent of the produce for New York City; and that its merchants have generations of expertise.
Although Hunts Point has been around for more than two centuries and is proud of its deep-rooted history, the market has always been at the forefront of innovation and its leaders wanted a modern refresh to reflect that.
“It was important to show that we have been here a long time, and there are great stories to be told,” said LoPresti. “But we are also on top of the latest trends in food safety and varieties and that we have been innovative in leading advancements in the produce industry. We want to harness all of this — the variety, the freshness and expertise, all the collective stories — and start to create a message and a brand for the market.”
Less publicized about the Hunts Point Produce Market, but just as important, is the good it does for surrounding communities each year. In 2019 alone, Hunts Point donated more than 6 million pounds of produce to New York’s five boroughs and Westchester County.
“It’s a big part of what we do here every day,” said LoPresti. “We also started our own give back event around Thanksgiving where we hand out a few thousand bags of produce to the community — all donated by our merchants.”
They spend more than a week preparing for the event and that aspect of the market is featured on the website, including highlighting the partnership with City Harvest, Food Bank For New York City and Feeding Westchester. “The list of organizations that we donate to here in the market is vast,” said LoPresti. “It is important, we are really proud of it and it is something that we are going to be doing even more in the future.”
The rebrand was spearheaded by the Hunts Point Next Gen Committee. The committee is comprised of approximately 20 Next Gen group leaders (many who are sons or daughters of owners) who work for companies in the Hunts Point Produce Market.
Though the younger generation developed the idea, the rebrand was an extensive, collaborative process that combined old voices and new, and included interviews, committee meetings and roundtable discussions.
“We did extensive interviews with some of the owners,” said LoPresti. “There was a brand questionnaire that went out to everyone, because it was important to get the feedback, not only from the Next Gen Committee, but also the current owners of companies within the market. We wanted to make sure we had as much feedback and input as possible to best reflect the spirit of the market — past, present and future.”
As far as future goals, “we want to tell our story, highlight our strengths, and continue to demonstrate our knowledge, expertise, variety and service,” said LoPresti. “We’ll continue to prioritize exceeding the current needs of our customers, while also innovating so we can exceed their needs of tomorrow.”
