Our Story
When you think about Northern California, you probably think of our rich agriculture, our innovative entrepreneurs, our legendary diversity – and our mouth-watering food.
The SF Market has powered the Bay Area food economy for over a century, and we have only just begun.
From our humble origins as a group of independent produce merchants in downtown San Francisco to our current location and ambitious reinvestment plan, we have always stood for one thing: Growth.
The SF Market is a nonprofit wholesale marketplace connecting growers and their produce to food businesses throughout the region. Together with over 30 merchants – in one perfect San Francisco location – we provide the food infrastructure and programs that feed the Bay Area and the $113B regional food economy.
Hundreds of food-centered companies shop our streets between midnight and 9:00 am, loading their trucks with the area’s finest fresh produce destined for the shelves of your local market.
Each morning, our merchants deliver packed-to-order produce to grocers, caterers and restaurateurs from Monterey to Arcata to the Nevada border.
We recover hundreds of thousands of pounds of healthy produce each year, which our community partners turn into meals for people in need all over San Francisco.
Our 60-year lease from the City of San Francisco gives us a long-term home so that we can embark on a significant reinvestment plan to modernize and expand facilities, systems and nonprofit programming, ensuring that The SF Market can continue to fulfill its mission both now and in the future.
We hope this report helps you learn about The SF Market and our role as the hub of the Bay Area’s all-important food infrastructure. We welcome you to join us as a merchant, a customer, a volunteer or a community service partner. We look forward to growing with you.
2017 Highlights
Reinvesting in Our Future
To meet the growing demands of the region’s food economy, The SF Market Board approved a plan to fund a $100-million reinvestment plan. These funds will modernize and expand facilities, systems and programming, following our 2015 investment to build the region’s first LEED Gold Certified building dedicated to food.
Employing the Community
Over 850 people work at The SF Market in positions requiring a variety of skills and education levels. A number of them live in San Francisco and we are proud to contribute to the economic development of the Bayview Hunter’s Point community by helping to support families and the neighborhood.
Building Brand and Awareness
The SF Market will continue to play a powerful role in the growing Bay Area food economy with a fresh and innovative new brand built to raise our visibility with customers, growers and the community. Designed by Trinity Brand Group, our new brand reflects the creativity, vibrancy and solid relationships that our merchants personify.
Increasing Access to Healthy Food
The SF Market is dedicated to increasing access to healthy food through our food recovery program and by supporting healthy retail efforts. We received our first grant from the San Francisco Department of Environment Zero Waste Grant Program of $100,000 to help donate over 600,000 pounds of healthy produce annually to community partners.
The Linchpin of the $113B Northern California Food Economy
We drive the business of healthy food and the infrastructure that powers thousands of Northern California food enterprises.
• We have more direct relationships with local growers and regional food businesses than anyone else, making us the one-stop shop for many food businesses.
• The SF Market is the only facility of its size and type in Northern California, providing 485,000 square feet of warehouse space built for food safety – 82,000 square feet of that state-of-the-art LEED certified – to move food around the region safely and efficiently.
• Over 850 employees work on The SF Market, sustaining families and households throughout our community.
• From wholesalers who sell on the market, to distributors who deliver throughout the region, to technology-powered food businesses, The SF Market embraces innovation and supports different business models.
“If you want to be at the heart of the Northern California food scene, you have to be on The SF Market. Only The SF Market has the hustle and bustle, the competition and collaboration and the solid relationships built over decades of service that define the local food industry.”
~Stanley Corriea Jr., Owner, Stanley Produce
President of the San Francisco Produce Association
Vice President of the San Francisco Market Corporation
“Working at The SF Market for Earl’s Organics helps me support myself while doing something I believe in. I like helping people in our community have healthy produce to eat and making sure that local famers can get their fruit and vegetables out to the people who want it. It’s great to be part of the healthy food chain.”
~Susan Simitz, Marketing and Social Media Manager
Earl’s Organic Produce
At the Heart of San Francisco’s Culture of Food and Innovation
For decades past and decades to come, we are the source for the fresh, local and innovative ingredients that make San Francisco a world-class food destination.
• Our 60-year lease with the City of San Francisco, honoring our century of support for the City’s food culture and our role as a strategic asset, gives us a long-term home.
• With the support and partnership of the City, The SF Market Board and community leaders, we created a reinvestment plan so that we can continue to innovate along with the City and the food world.
“The SF Market has been a hidden gem in San Francisco since 1963. The SF Market fosters relationships between Bay Area growers and buyers, creating jobs and providing the necessary infrastructure, programs and relationships that help the Bay Area food economy thrive. I am thrilled that The SF Market is growing and expanding.”
~San Francisco Supervisor Malia Cohen
A Market Built for the Way Customers Want to Shop
Our customers are everything to us. Our merchants’ long-standing relationships with growers and the food community mean that we have the variety, availability and prices to help our customers grow.
• The SF Market comes to life in the middle of the night when grocers and retailers are filling their trucks so that they can display the finest produce on their shelves when they open in the morning.
• We have the most delivery capacity of any Bay Area produce market, bringing the region’s best produce to restaurateurs, caterers and grocers, whose busy schedules depend on delivery.
• From pallets to pints, our merchants measure and re-package produce to meet customer usage and space requirements.
• Our specialized facilities include San Francisco’s only all-organic banana-ripening rooms, providing complete control of bananas from the fields to our customers’ shelves.
Making a Meaningful Difference for the Community and the Environment
We are more than a business – we are a social enterprise with a mission to do good for the environment, our community and the region’s food economy.
• We are a longstanding and vital member of Bayview Hunter’s Point, San Francisco, and the larger Northern California community, providing jobs, neighborhood improvements and programs.
• We are home to an 82,000 square foot state-of-the-art LEED certified building focused solely on food – the first building of its type in the Bay Area.
• We have recovered over 1 million pounds of healthy food, which our 20 community partners turned into over 800,000 meals, continuing our commitment to feeding San Franciscans in need.
“With the high cost of living in the Bay Area, many seniors do not have enough money left each month for nutritious food. The SF Market allows us to offer healthy, appealing produce with seasonal variety to help our clients eat well.”
~Cathy Davis, Executive Director, Bayview Senior Services
Financial Snapshot
Thank You
Funders
City and County of San Francisco Department of Environment Zero Waste Grant Program
Volunteers
San Francisco Market Corporation Board
Larry Brucia, President
Stanley Corriea, Vice President, Merchant Representative
Lori Cambell, Treasurer
Helen Lois Sause, Secretary
Jeff Akel
David Brentlinger
Calvin Leong, Merchant Representative
John Muller
Ray Mah, Merchant Representative
Stephany Thompson
Ric Tombari, Merchant Representative
Julie Yim
Eli Zigas
San Francisco Produce Association Board
Stanley Corriea, Jr., President (Stanley Produce)
Ray Mah, Vice President (Berti Produce)
Rusty Tarpley, Treasurer (What a Tomato)
Ric Tombari, Secretary (Cooks Company)
Ed Chin (New City Produce)
Larry Balestra (S&L Produce)
Vera Garces (Payless Logistics & Payless Supermarkets)
Calvin Leong (VegiWorks)
Tony Leutza (Washington Vegetable)
Patrick Stewart (Earl's Organic Produce)
Board Committees
Risa Blumlein, Joshua Callahan, Toni Cassar, Amy Dickie, Dan Dodt, Radoslava Dogandjieva, Laura Forton, Tim Garlick, Tony Garza, Juliana Grenzeback, Ashleigh Harris, Eric Haesloop, Robert Lee, Curtis Miyaji, Mark Natividad, Natalie Quan, Paula Reinman, Earl Shaddix, Susan Simitz, Andrew Wiestock
Community
Food Recovery Community Partners
18 Reasons, Bayview Senior Services/Dr. George W. Davis Senior Center, Catholic Charities, City Impact, City of Dreams, Coalition of Concerned Medical Professionals, Ella Hill Hutch Community Center, Episcopal Community Services, Farming Hope, Food Runners, Food Shift Kitchen, Fraternite Notre Dame, Free the Need, GLIDE, Ida B. Wells High School – Heat of the Kitchen Program, Little Sisters of the Poor, Martin de Porres House of Hospitality, SF-Marin Food Bank, Thurgood Marshall High School - Culinary Arts Class, Turn On To America, United Council of Human Services/Mother Brown’s Dining Room, University of San Francisco's Chapter of Food Recovery Network
Food Recovery Merchant Partners
Arcadio’s Produce, Berti Produce, Cooks Company, Earl’s Organic Produce, Good Eggs, Great West Gourmet, GrubMarket, New City Fruit & Produce, Payless Logistics & Payless Supermarkets, Shasta Produce, Stanley Produce, S&L Wholesale Produce, VegiWorks, Washington Vegetable, What a Tomato, Yuet Cheong Produce
Join Us
Join us in making things grow! We welcome you as a customer, merchant, community partner, volunteer or funder. Please contact us:
info@sfproduce.org
415.550.4495
