Four Seasons Family of Companies Blog

The produce industry has many intricacies that make it one of the toughest businesses to be in today, yet the rewards of successfully navigating those intricacies are even sweeter. Factors like climate control, food safety, traceability – to name a few – are some of the daily, ever-changing concerns that must be balanced with the simple yet essential tasks of maintaining and growing a company. To achieve success, companies must first deliver reliability to customers and that means making smart partnership choices from the get go. Smart third party logistics partnerships are a vital component of this. Here are some tips our customers have found useful in achieving such relationships.

1. Balance the need for speed with the need for process.
Extreme time sensitivity is an ever-present challenge in the produce world. It also creates the need for a formalized process that manages inventory and delivers quick reports, fast thinking and customer solutions. Availability of reports on inventory and/or daily stock status allows decision makers to feel in control and minimizes anxiety over the unforeseen.

2. If these four walls could talk ...
No exception to the rule of "you never get a second chance to make a first impression", produce facilities and professionals should show care for appearance and health standards. With perishable product, the customer needs to feel confident that their deliveries will be kept at the correct temperature throughout the cold chain and that all food safety and handling practices are certified, standardized and consistently executed.



3. Put food safety in the driver's seat.
At the core, a food logistics partner is in the business of transporting precious, perishable cargo. Period. Consistency, experience and the ability to adapt quickly are good traits of great partners. The challenge here lies in system capabilities, electronic records and clear processes for identifying and separating recalled items as well as minimizing the loss of produce that is still viable. Preparing for and capably dealing with these safety concerns proves the value of smarter partner.

For more information on Smart Partnerships – and to learn what's new at Four Seasons, check out our news page.