Bay Food Brokerage

On Saturday, our manufacturing partner Fiorucci Foods, Inc. participated in the Winterfest Boat Parade in Fort Lauderdale. The event is part of Winterfest, which also included Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital Winterfest Family Fun Day, presented by Publix Inc in November. Our team was there to support Fiorucci and work the event last month. This is Fiorucci’s first year participating in Winterfest, and we are so glad to be a part of it! Learn more about the event here:  https://lnkd.in/g3bAhjEA

We are hiring! Our team is looking for a Business Analyst to support category management and sales projects in our Tampa office. The ideal candidate will have 1 to 3 years of experience and be able to generate data and insights to support category reviews, new item presentations, scorecards and assortment/shelving, as well as ad-hoc analytics. Interested parties should apply on our website at https://lnkd.in/eTBhxKPp. 

Get to know retail representative Jim Lorino in our latest Team Member Spotlight. Jim joined the Bay Food Brokerage family in 2019 and provides retail support to our food retailers throughout the Southeast. He started his career working for a fine wine distributor in the Northeast and has enjoyed watching industry and consumer trends change throughout his time in the business. Get to know more about Jim and his career on our website. https://lnkd.in/euXi9VTF

Last month, construction began on our new office in Tampa. The team has been hard at work and has completed demolition of the interior spaces and started construction on the front entrance and balconies. We are so excited to see our vision come to life in this space! Stay tuned for more updates as we continue the renovation process.

Yesterday, we celebrated the November and December birthdays in our Tampa office. Please join us in wishing Erin Mcculloch-Crume and Kendra Swauger a very happy birthday! Retail Rep. Elizabeth Lent also celebrated a birthday in November. Happy birthday to all of these wonderful team members! 

Happy Thanksgiving from the Bay Food Brokerage family! We have so much to be thankful for this year. As you sit around the table with your family and friends, take a moment to recognize your many blessings and carry that gratitude with you as we close out the year.

Last week, our team spent time volunteering in the Metropolitan Ministries holiday tent in Tampa. Our volunteers sorted food and stocked shelves, passed out snacks to shoppers and loaded groceries into their cars. This is always a wonderful way for our team to spend time together while also helping those in need during the holiday season.    Metropolitan Ministries expects to serve 30,000 families in need this Thanksgiving and Christmas. The organization provides hot meals for families, as well as Christmas gifts for children ages 0-17. We are incredibly proud to partner with Metropolitan Ministries year-round and support their amazing work in our community.    To learn more about the holiday tent and find out how you can help, visit: https://lnkd.in/gSbrSjCw

In Spring 2024, Healthy Family Project hired Bay Food Brokerage’s retail services team to manage installation of its Publix Super Markets Produce for Kids Campaign in over 1,300 Publix stores throughout the Southeast. Our team hit the ground running and completed the point-of-sale installation in Publix’s produce sections – including placing table signs, circle danglers, shelf cards, shelf flags and clings, and checking signage weekly to ensure compliance. Thank you to Amanda Keefer, Senior Director of Marketing and Communications for Healthy Family Project, for sharing her experience with our team on our blog. We are proud of this project and the work that Healthy Family Project is doing in the community. Read the testimonial on our blog: https://lnkd.in/et4m8YvP

The holiday season is a busy time of year for gatherings. And, with many party hosts looking for relatively easy foods to serve their guests, charcuterie boards are at the top of the list when it comes to fun and festive snacks. This presents a seasonal opportunity – from mid-November through New Year’s Eve – for food retailers and brands that sell products in the deli. In our latest blog post, Nicholle (Marshall) Crespo shares how store managers, deli departments and manufacturers can find creative ways to showcase charcuterie items to maximize sales. Read the blog: https://lnkd.in/efVVc4Kn

During our annual meeting, our manufacturer clients and team had the opportunity to donate to Feeding Tampa Bay. This donation was then matched by Bay Food Brokerage, and we were able to present Senior Director of Development Jason Prado with a check for $26,000!!    This donation will go a long way in supporting the organization’s hurricane relief efforts. Since Hurricane Helene, Feeding Tampa Bay has distributed 5.2 million meals to our community. On a typical day, FTB provides 200,000 meals and in the last several weeks, they’ve doubled that number. We’re proud to support them in these efforts and thankful to everyone who made this donation possible!