This Week In The Market – 7 May 2019

– Engage with customers, share recipes
– Meet your advisory committee members
– Mother’s Day promotions

Market News

Engage customers

Are you sharing recipes on your social media channels? Recipes can attract high online engagement and can allow you to feature a particular fruit or vegetable that is currently in season.
You can find a range of great recipes on the A Better Choice website which can be shared to inspire your customers.
It’s easy to do, after finding the recipe you want to feature, simply click one of the social icons to choose the platform where you want to share the recipe.

We now have almost 150 A Better Choice members! If you’re not on board yet, why not? Book an appointment to have us visit you in-store and answer all your questions.

Meet your advisory committee members

Over the coming weeks, we will be profiling each of our advisory committee members for you to get to know a little more about them.
This week we spoke to Anthony Pignataro, a new member of the Growers Advisory Committee.
Your role at the Market:
I work for Glow Fresh. I started in the Market when I was just 18 years old, so I’ve been working in the industry for about 12 years now.  The whole family is in the industry; we’re passionate about it; it’s in our blood.
What do you think are important issues for the industry and Market itself?
The heat in summer can be an issue on the trading floor; you sometimes see the stock deteriorate in front of your eyes so it would be good to discuss solutions going forward.
Market hours, while aren’t an issue for me personally, is something we need to keep looking at, we need to attract new blood to the industry while making things work for us operationally,
What are you positive about for the future? 
We’ve got a great facility here in Epping and while I think there are still things that need to be improved we have a great base to start from.
Why did you want to be a member of the advisory committee?
I hadn’t considered joining the advisory committee previously, and I didn’t know much about it. Some of the Market relations guys had been encouraging me to join, and then Vince Doria wanted me to become part of it. I have a lot of respect for Vince, so I took his advice and applied to join.
What’s something most people wouldn’t know about you?
I collect shoes. I’m a big Jordan/Nike fan. Sometimes I buy shoes that I don’t even wear; it’s a hobby of mine, I’m a sneaker-head.

Advisory committees work with the MMA to advise on matters relating to Market operations and the fresh produce industry, and committee members are a great source of information and advice for Market users. To find out who all the members of the advisory committees are, please visit the MMA website.

Full site emergency evacuation drill – rescheduled

The emergency evacuation drill scheduled for last week was cancelled due to severe weather conditions.
The full site emergency evacuation drill has been rescheduled for Monday 27 May at 11:00 am.
The drill will evacuate all tenants on Market land, including all administration building tenants, Buyers’ walk tenants, warehouse tenants, visitors, and subcontractors on site.
Upon hearing the site evacuation tones, everyone will need to follow site evacuation procedures and follow the directions of Market Relations Officers.
The drill should take approximately 20 minutes.
We look forward to your participation.

Mother’s Day

The days leading up to Mother’s Day are the busiest of the year for the Flower Market, and the MMA and Flowers Victoria have been working hard to encourage the public to purchase fresh flowers for their mum this Mother’s Day.
You may have heard our fun ad on the radio already, but if not, you can listen to it here.
On Wednesday this week tune into Nova FM from 9am-12pm where Matt Tilley will be running a competition giving out fresh flowers for mums, with the flowers donated from our traders in the Flower Market.

Wishing all the Melbourne Market mums a Happy Mother’s Day this Sunday.

Access card expiry

Annual access cards expired last week on 30 April.
Any unpaid access card renewal invoices are now overdue, and lockouts for unpaid cards commenced last week.
Business principals are advised to pay access card renewal invoices in full, if not done so already, to avoid disruption to business operations.
Payment methods

1. Visit the Customer Service Centre between 4:00 am and 11:00 am and pay via cash, credit card or debit card.
2. Pay online via the MMA website at www.melbournemarket.com.au/running-you-business/fees-and-payments.
3. Pay over the phone via credit card by phoning 03 9258 6123.
4. Pay via BPAY – look for the BPAY details on the bottom of your invoice.

Industry News

Full Hort Connection program out now

The full program for Hort Connections can now be found online. Check out all the plenary sessions, speakers and plan your visit.
Click here to access the Hort Connections website, including the program.

Key Dates

Sunday 12 May – Mother’s Day

Ask the MMA

If you’ve got a question for the MMA email it to submissions@melbournemarket.com.au.