Anton's Hits
Family run operation has good reason to celebrate.
One of the last vestiges of the neighborhood stores is Anton's Fruit Ranch in Highland Park, Illinois. Surrounded by major corporations in a busy Chicago North Shore community, Anton's is a family own and operated business that was started in 1949. "We are in our fifth or sixth generation of customers here", says George Anton. "When they were kids, the parents used to bring them in to the store."
There is a family rule at Anton's. One member of the family must be on the premises at all times, he says. Anton's mother and father are active in the business, as is George's wife during key times during the year. Anton's is a nimble marketer who has successfully recognized what his customers wanted over the years and has made the necessary changes to serve those needs. Anton's has 12000 square feet of space and features a full range of products. Gourmet foods, 20 foot salad bar, deli department and garden center. This is a dramatic change from the humble beginnings when Anton's father Pete Anton, begun the business "with $300 and a little shack", the elder Anton says. It became a place where Chicago's North Shore customers could get their produce and pick up a few grocery and meat items.
The Move Upscale
In 1984, says George Anton, it became different in terms of the way we marketed out products, specifically produce. "At that time, the family determined that they would cater to the upscale tastes of the more affluent customers in the area. Accordingly they altered their product mix. "We focus more on unusual stuff - more than what was a valuable before", he says. Anton's notes that most of his customers have a very clear order of priority: "First, quality, than convenience". The biggest sales increases that Anton observes are in all of the ready cut items that the store sales. He mentions pre-sliced cantaloupe, honey dew melon, watermelon, jicama and green, yellow and red peppers - sliced or chopped. 80% of total sales in the pineapple category come from the golden ripe pre-sliced pineapples. Other convenience items that work well at Anton's are salad mixes, tomatoes from Holland and cherry tomatoes in netted bags. On the North Shore of Chicago no one wants to do anything "in the kitchen". No one has time. Both bread winners are out working. They want it ready to go right now. Time is valuable," he comments. Quality is a key aspect that keeps Anton's customers coming back. "We move the equivalent of about 10,000 to 20,000 pounds of produce per week. 80% of it comes the South Water Market in Chicago. Between 5 and 10 percent from local growers and about 5 percent are oranges and grapefruit that we buy directly. We also do fresh squeezed juice says George Anton. During the winter Pete or George Anton visits the South Water Market at least two times per week. They arrive about 4 am, and are back by 8.30 am. In the summer they go more often, about three to four times a week. "A big reason why people come here and trust my judgement is that we are going to South Water Market. Quality can differentiate [in the Market] really great and really crappy. I want to look at what we are buying vs. just hearing someone else's opinion [about what the product are like]", says Anton.
Seasonal Sales
Anton's sales 37000 candied apples between September and March. These are produced in-house from Granny Smith apples, and Anton's sales many of them retail, but also sales them wholesale to Sunset Foods. A local grocery store chain and to area caterers. Another item that booms in the fall is pumpkins; Anton's sales about 25 tones of them. They are both locally from farms in Illinois, Michigan and Indiana", says Anton. He adds that the equivalent of six semi-trailer loads of plants move during August through May- mostly hardy mums and other fall flowering plants.
Anton's also has a large garden center that is currently being expanded with the addition of 5800 square feet of permanent space. Portable greenhouses are being removed, and it "gives us the ability to market our pumpkins, Christmas Trees and annuals in a better environment", says Anton. Volume is significant and includes the movement of 42 semi-trailers of annuals during the months of May and June just for the spring planting season. The way we differentiate ourselves is to specialize in giving people the things they can't get from the mass marketers. We specialize in unusual blooming and vegetative plants - not what you would call mainstream. This is and affluent area. Incomes here are higher than the national averages. People have developed a hobby of gardening, and they don't mind paying. As the face of the North Shore has changed Anton's has kept pace. Over the recent decades the store has become surrounded by high-rise office buildings. The resulting lunchtime office crowd spurred Anton to add a Salad bar. We are very fortunate to have large office buildings near us, said Anton. Between 300 to 400 people come from the surrounding area for lunch each weekday. "Within that for - our lunch period we go 250 to 300 pounds of produce. Salads are weighted by the pound and sell for $3.29 per pound."
50th Anniversary
Anton's Fruit Ranch is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. Pete Anton is 75 years old, and some of the changes he has noted are the sizes of the farms where the produce originates. "There are no more mom and pop farms anymore", he laments. And about today's generation; the shopper " doesn't want to prepare a fruit tray, she wants to buy one". Anton's has pin pointed just what his customers want in the area the store serves. This is a model example of a family run business that has good reason to celebrate.
***ALL PRICES ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE DUE TO MARKET CONDITIONS***
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