With Thanksgiving prep in full swing, it means it is busy season at the NYC Hunts Point Terminal Produce Market. 

Tuesday, two days before the holiday, is the busiest day of the year as retailers both big and small, along with restauranteurs, stock up to get ready for the holiday. 

What You Need To Know

  • 30 million pounds of fresh produce will be sold by Hunts Point Produce Market in NYC this Thanksgiving

  • Throughout the year, the market supplies 60% of produce found in local stores and restaurants in the city

  • Hunt Point Produce Market is the largest wholesale produce market in the world and the produce comes from 49 states and 55 counties

“We are going to have about 30 million pounds of produce going through the whole market across all the merchants,”  Joshua Gatcke, the General Manager at Nathel & Nathel, one of the produce companies working out of the terminal.  “That is about three times the normal volume that we get on a typical day here.”

If you are celebrating locally, it is possible 90% of the produce in your Thanksgiving spread passed through this market, because you can get just about any holiday fixing here, besides the turkey. 

Gabriela D’Arrigo is a fourth-generation produce retailer.

“Here in the fruit department, cranberries are flying off the shelves. We move a lot of that volume through here. Apples for pies, Granny Smiths, Golden Delicious, a lot of the items that go into deserts, even garnishes, believe it of not,” she said. 

Employees at the market work through the night filling orders and loading up hundreds of trucks so that stores can stock shelves and restaurants can supply their kitchens in anticipation of the holiday demand.

Because of inflation, it will cost more this year to host thanksgiving.

The 29 produce companies operating out of the market are feeling the impact too. 

“We’ve never in the history of our industry had this many items that are above a certain threshold,” D’Arrigo said. “It has been really eye opening for all of us and all we are doing is everything we possibly can to make sure we are as competitive as possible for the customer base.”

Hunts Point Terminal Produce Market is the largest wholesale produce market in the world and any left over food at the end of the day goes to various community organizations in the area to help with their Thanksgiving celebrations.