Meet Jessica Rutti

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jessica Rutti.

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
If my mom (Lonnie McNeill) was the one writing this, she would say that I was born into carrying on the legacy of Ward’s Fruit and Produce – arriving into the world right in time to go to work at 4:40 AM in February of 1991, the year we moved to the newly relocated State Farmers Market! To seal the deal, she named me Jessica Ward McNeill, carrying on the family name since she and my aunt both left “Ward” behind for their husband’s surnames once married.

Just like it sat firmly in the middle of my name, Ward’s was the center of our family’s world in the way that I imagine most family businesses are. From helping stamp checks for my mom at the kitchen table while dinner finished cooking, to matching watermelon dresses sitting proudly atop the biggest winner each year on Watermelon Day, to laughter filled Sunday afternoons scrambling up mountains of rubbery-smelling bags of onions while my Dad (Joey McNeill) had to “just pop by” the office: Ward’s is a common thread that has been braided stronger and thicker as time went on and my involvement in the business increased.

In Highschool, I would spend hot summer days in the warehouse filing paperwork and answering phones on people’s lunch breaks in the office. By the time I was enrolled at East Carolina for my BSBA in Business Management, I was coming in on school breaks and some random weekends as needed to earn some spending money. I decided I wanted to work other places and work for someone else before I committed to jumping straight into a job where my parents were also my boss. Fresh out of college, I was eager to be on my own, with my own place and my own job, too. And so it came to pass that I spent the next several years working in staffing.

A few years into that career path, I made another decision: I needed to enjoy some freedom before settling in for the lifelong commitment to Wards, and off I went backpacking around South America and then the U.S., for a year before coming back home – both to Raleigh and the Farmers Market where I started full-time at Wards in December of 2016. I’ve worked almost every position at some point over the past several years while also subtly nudging us in the direction of the things that I believe to be important: a hyper-focus on local produce, broader product lines with specialty items to fit the exciting new food scene in Raleigh, and an understanding that our most important trait as a company will always be our customer service.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I think that anyone who says a family-owned business is a smooth road is kidding you (or themselves!). It’s never easy when emotions are involved in business, and avoiding that is pretty much impossible when you work with your family day in and day out. On one hand, there’s nothing better than celebrating the wins with your family. And on the other hand, the losses can feel more heavy when those you share the burden with are also your family.

The biggest struggle, by far, we have had in our 86 years of business was 2020. It was devastating. The immediate impact the pandemic had on our business as our restaurant partners and school contracts (60% of our customer base) seemed to close overnight without warning. Adding in the fact that things were evolving so quickly in the news that many of our employees were frightened to come into work, and we were wondering how in the world we were going to keep things going – for us, and all our employees & their families.

I would say that this is the point that being family-owned turned out to be a strength. Giving up was simply not an option for our livelihood and that of our employees & their dependents, and we were able to put our nose to the grindstone and adapt. Using our network we were able to participate in the USDA’s Farmers to Families Food Box Program in the first few rounds, which benefited our entire supply chain.

We were able to source large quantities of produce from our local farm partners who had been struggling to adapt to the shift to retail products versus food service products and bring our employees back to work packing boxes. Best of all, we all had the higher purpose of knowing the work we were doing was directly helping our community by getting fresh foods into the hands of those who needed it most. Through our involvement in this program we were able to source approximately 10 million pounds of fresh produce from over 20,000 acres of American Farmland which we delivered directly to dozens of nonprofits across North Carolina, using our own employees and fleet of box trucks.

Now, in 2021, we face a new set of challenges as we work to adapt to the sharp and sudden uptick of a return to normalcy for our customers and therefore, our normal volume of business. Luckily, this is one set of problems we are happy to have. 

Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
My biggest role is customer retention and new customer acquisition. Working with foodservice customers means that needs are ongoing as menus and seasons change, so I am in near-constant communication with Chefs to ensure we are able to source the products they need to make their creations come to life. This is incredibly rewarding to me as a Foodie who is “okay” at cooking at home. Being able to be a small part of the process in creating some of the delicious creations I’ve gotten to try is the best part of my job. Anyone who knows me will usually ask where they should go to eat/recommend for friends since I’m always talking about or eating food here in the Triangle and towards Wilmignton and the Coast!

I would say what sets myself and Ward’s apart is that we consider our customers to be our partners. It’s a two-way street – sometimes a Chef will forget to place an order and we will run it back out to them at no additional charge – just asking that they give us the same grace in the future if we fall short on our end. Produce is a volatile commodity in terms of both quality and price, and stocking a full range of fruits and vegetables year-round despite the seasonality in our region can be a challenge that seems never-ending with all the curveballs Mother Nature pitched us in the past few years in terms of weather and storms. There’s always going to be times when things are less than perfect, and that’s why a true partnership is needed when you work in this industry.

Price fluctuations are often out of our control, and now more than ever it’s a challenge for us, the “little guys,” to compete with broadliners, who have the ability to purchase quantities of products nationwide in a week we couldn’t source within a year! So, that can make it difficult for us to compete price-wise at times. The one thing that we can control no matter what is our service, and I am so proud and humbled to have such committed partnerships with our customers who trust in our company and the service we provide. And lastly, I’m proud that although we are not yet certified, we are a Woman-Owned Business in a field that is male-dominated.

Can you share something surprising about yourself?
I think that most people who see me in a work setting might be surprised at how different I am “off the clock.” I’m hyper-organized and (probably too) serious at work and am always in a go-go-go rush. On weekends and with friends, I’m much more laid back and easygoing.

I also think that most people may be surprised that I don’t eat as much fruit and veg as you might think – my dad used to always joke that with three daughters, he would have been better off working as a cobbler than a produce wholesaler!

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: www.wardproduce.com
• Instagram: wardsproduce
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ward.produce/

Image Credits
Jacki Ostrowka – portraits of Jessica instagram – @jackiophotography Lonnie & Joey photo is from Triangle Business Journal article posted in 2011: https://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/print-edition/2011/01/14/for-50-years-wards-keeps-it-fresh.html