MARKETS PROFILE
Peter Marinos, Director, Big Michael’s Fruit and Vegetables, Brisbane Markets.
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Tell me about Big Michael’s Fruit and Vegetables
I started Big Michael’s seven years ago with a ute borrowed from my father and a single café as a customer.
Now I have 15 trucks, a warehouse and 25 staff.
What sets you apart from other providores?
We offer our customers quality produce at the best prices.
I keep my fingers on the pulse, I do the buying and I keep our overheads down by doing a lot of things myself.
For example, yesterday we were four staff so I did 89 deliveries myself to ensure that our deliveries arrived on time.
Where do you source your produce from?
Most of our produce is sourced from within the Brisbane market, and our salad greens, edible flowers and fresh herbs direct from local growers.
How important are our growers?
Very important. We all need to support our local growers, our smaller growers by buying through the market system rather than through the big supermarkets who generally buy direct from large growing operations.
Who are your customers?
We have 540 customers actively ordering at the moment and supply top quality fresh fruit and vegetables to restaurants, hotels, cafes and coffee carts.
How did you get into the fruit and veg business?
My father used to work in the market as a buyer when he first came to Australia from Greece.
His name is Michael and he is known by everyone as Big Michael.
While I was at uni studying construction management I was working on building sites as a labourer so I could learn from the bottom up.
I believed that you can’t be a construction manager unless you know what everyone is doing.
I was working two or three jobs and earning very little when my father suggested that I go to the markets as a family friend who owned a café in the city wanted someone to do the buying for him.
So I borrowed my father’s ute, got more professional and with introductions at the market from my father and a lot of energy visiting potential cafes and restaurants in the city to secure new customers, the business grew from there.
I used to have the ute full to overflowing every day delivering orders.
What has changed at the market over the years?
The biggest change is the way people eat, although I think we are moving back to appreciating fresh fruit and veg and away from processed food.
People are starting to think more about the food that they eat.
What is the best thing about working at the market?
I love the constant change that comes with working at the market, every day is different.
It’s the only place where you can have a disagreement with someone in the morning and be best mates again in the afternoon.
What is most challenging about the industry?
Your pricing changes every day so it’s really difficult to lock in prices, you have to keep your customers happy with your reliability, service and quality.
It’s also difficult to keep reliable staff, especially an uneducated, night shift position.
What have been some of the highlights in your business?
The success of the business as a whole has been the biggest highlight allowing me to invest in property and enjoy the rewards from lots of hard work.
What is the key to running a successful business?
Hard, hard, hard work and more work. We are the first to get into the market and the last to leave so that we get the best produce for our customers and our trucks are on the road two hours before everyone else.
