Four representatives of Melbourne Wholesale Market, in Victoria, Australia, visited New Covent Garden this week, met and chatted with wholesalers on Buyers’ Walk and chatted about the common themes that thread through wholesale market life and work in our different corners of the globe.

The visit followed a similar affair in Melbourne last December, when CGTA Chair Gary Marshall was hosted at their Market, which is around 35 kilometres outside the city having moved to new premises a decade or so ago. Click here for story

In the Aussie group were: Jason Cooper, Fresh State CEO and Managing Director, and Fresh Markets Australia (FMA) Director; Shane Schnitzler, Fresh State President and FMA Chairman; and Grant Nichol, Fresh State Director and Flavorite’s Chief Wholesale Trading Officer, and Tom Davidson, Fresh State Board member and owner of G Ferlazzo & Co.

They had been in Europe for over a fortnight and taken in trade event Fruit Attraction, in Madrid, as well as wholesale markets in Spain, Germany and France, before their last (and no doubt favourite) stop of the journey before a flight back to Oz, in Nine Elms! The group met with CGMA GM Rob McAuliffe and Communications Director Giles Roddy and were shown round the Buyers’ Walk facilities and operations of Premier Foods Wholesale, by Sales Manager Dean Graham, and P&I / Side Salads, by Director Nick Padley.

In the absence of Gary Marshall, the Melburnians also had a chat with his son Bradley, who is back in the Bevington Salads fold after a lengthy sojourn Down Under, in New Zealand.

The group passes on their gratitude to everyone who took the time to meet and greet them on the night and left suitably impressed with the new and developing facilities at this Market. Their main takeaway from the European tour was that while every market is different in its make-up, facilities and character, the wholesale trade is united in its challenges, its processes and the passion and expertise of its people.