In the second interview that looks at some of the people who make this Market what it is, we talk to Dan McCullough, owner of First Choice Produce

What does New Covent Garden Market mean to you?

It's the camaraderie; how everyone supports each other. That’s all part of the Market, isn’t it? I don’t think you’d find that anywhere else.

When was the first time you visited NCGM?

I was working for a company called Wild Harvest in 1993, based on Queenstown Road in Battersea. We used to sell to a few companies on the Market and working there was a great introduction for me, because I got to meet people like Gordon Ramsay and Marco Pierre White. All the up-and-coming chefs at the time in the early ‘90s.

What was your first Market job?

I wasn’t directly employed in the Market, but my first job was as a van driver for Wild Harvest. Then by the time I left - eight years later - I was managing the company and doing everything basically. I used to visit the Market all the time when I was with Wild Harvest and go to French Garden and get a few bits. We also sold products to them.

But our main business was importing wild mushrooms, truffles and fine foods from pickers and packers all over the globe, visiting Rungis Market in Paris and selling our produce to all kinds of clients. Wild mushrooms were our big thing. This was the main core of the business.

What did you do next?

After eight years at Wild Harvest I started my own company – First Choice Fruit and Produce Ltd – back in 2001. I’ve got a wonderful building now that’s just incredible. But it started with me in a transit van. And I didn’t know what I was doing! I didn’t know anything about fruit and veg, really, because all I knew at the time was wild mushrooms. But I was supported by a lot of chefs. It was a good friend of mine, a chef, who said ‘go and buy fruit and veg and I’ll buy off you’. That’s basically how I started. It wasn’t rocket science.

Then I learned there are two sections of this Market. You’ve got the businesses who go and sell to the restaurants and hotels And then you’ve got the wholesalers who sell to other traders on the Market. Selling on the Market is easier, whereas in our line, you take a box, split it, bag it, then put it in another bag, and you have to do all this extra, work. Hence, you’ve got to charge the restaurants and hotels more to make your margin. Compared with a wholesaler, we’ll need five people for every one of theirs.

How has it been for your business being in the Market?

It’s how my business has expanded. When I first started, I was working out of a garage for about six months. And then I moved to another unit just down the road from the old Wild Harvest unit in Battersea. By the end of that first year, I managed to get a little unit at New Covent Garden on the Growers Pavilion. It was then that we started growing much quicker.

Every year we just kept expanding and then gradually got one bigger unit. Then the following year we got two, then three, then four, then five, then six. And then we ended up here in the new units.

What has changed about the Market?

The thing that’s changed most is this Market used to have way more independent traders, many of whom have now fallen by the wayside, either through retirement or becoming part of a bigger firm. There are far fewer companies in the Market now than 20 years ago, that’s for sure.

What’s the secret of your success?

For me as a business owner, it’s about hard work, attention to detail and consistency. Always buying the best of everything paired with the best service. We’re very much customer-focused. The customer is always right and whatever they want, we’ll provide.

If you’re going to be a successful business, you’ve got to be 100% on it all the time. I never stop thinking about the business. I do have time off on the weekends (now), but in the initial stages of building it up, you work crazy hours. I mean, I was easily working 16 hours a day, six-days-a-week in the first eight years, something like that, to build it up.

It’s a big commitment but I really loved it. I’d recommend to anyone who wants to start a business, just do it. Thank God, ever since I made that decision, I’ve never looked back, and I’ve enjoyed every minute of it.