The increasing shortage of staff in the catering and communal catering sectors is known to have driven up demand for cut, pre-cut fruit and vegetables. Daniel Rohrseitz, owner of the family business of the same name based in the Frischezentrum Frankfurt, observes that pre-cut fruit products and salads are also in high demand in the airline catering sector. He has been supplying airline caterers at Frankfurt's local airport for many years.
Until the end of 2022, Rohrseitz sourced the majority of his sliced products from a regional specialist. "For a number of reasons, this company decided to cease operations shortly before the end of 2022. This gave rise to the idea of taking the production of convenience fruit into our own hands and setting up our own slicing business," says the fresh produce supplier, looking back. After a lead time of four months, the company's own production facility was put into operation at the company site in Frankfurt's fresh produce centre. In addition to the specialised staff, some of the customers of the already established convenience business were also taken over.
Daniel Rohrseitz has been at the helm of the family business as owner for twelve years now.
Focus on fine sliced goods
Currently, a total of three airline caterers are served with hand-cut sliced products every week. The new line of business has now also aroused interest among Rohrseitz GmbH's other existing customers, for example in the catering and communal catering sectors. "On the one hand, we are naturally delighted with the positive response and the many enquiries. On the other hand, cutting fruit and vegetables by hand is of course very labour-intensive and we only have four people in production. In any case, we have noticed that the demand for fresh-cut fruit and vegetables continues to rise, which in turn is due to the increasing shortage of labour in many areas. At the same time, there are only a few specialists who cater specifically for the more demanding customers, who can produce fruit cubes with a diameter of 1.5 to 2 cm, for example. What also sets us apart is the service we provide. This means that the goods are produced daily during the night and delivered on the same day."
The absolute bestseller in the range is the dry fruit salad without water and individual fruit products such as sliced pineapple or cantaloupe melons. Nevertheless, vegetable products such as carrot and courgette spaghetti and halved cherry tomatoes can also be found in the range. Rohrseitz: "Apart from the classics, we basically don't have a fixed programme. That means we are open to everything and anyone can order anything from us."
Insight into the Freshcut range at Rohrseitz
Continuity in the procurement of goods
The supplier network has also been expanded as part of the new company division. "We now import overseas fruit directly via a Dutch partner so that we can also guarantee our customers a certain level of product security and continuity. The location in the Frankfurt Fresh Produce Centre, which was built in 2004, should also be mentioned here. We have around 20-25 suppliers on site, from whom we purchase flexibly and according to demand. This is also a great advantage in the event of complaints or repeat orders," says Rohrseitz, whose site is equipped with modern ramps for loading and unloading lorries. Despite the broad supplier base, gaps in supply and shortages are unavoidable in practice. "Mini vegetables from South Africa are hard to come by at the moment due to the severe frost damage. As a result, we have had to offer some customers yellow courgettes instead of mini yellow patissans, but this has been accepted accordingly. In this respect, there are no gaps in our range that we cannot fill with suitable alternative products."
For more information:
Daniel Rohrseitz
Rohrseitz GmbH
Fresh Food Centre Frankfurt
Telephone 069-447902
Fax 069-48008925
Email: [email protected]
www.Rohrseitz-Frankfurt.de