Rungis market, early on any particular Parisian morning. Andrew Foster, commercial director of Bradford-based Burbank's subsidiary in France, is walking the alleys of the fresh produce halls in the biggest European wholesale market.

This is a notoriously quiet day on the market but our man knows where to go among the 200 wholesalers to pick up the best for his clientele. He stops at one stall, exchanges a few words with the salesman there on the Rugby World Cup and to gets an idea of prices. Suddenly though, he turns and seems to talk to the void: “Sorry, I can't buy your courgettes. Prices won't do,” he mutters.

It is now that you notice Foster is wearing an earplug. This is how a buyer generally works around the fast-moving Rungis market and more than one mobile phone is necessary to remain operational. “Since the euro was introduced, the job is more difficult,” admits Foster. “The gap it leaves in negotiations can be very tricky.”

Obviously there is a major difference between the former negotiation points of 90 centimes or one franc discount and the nouveau 50 cent benchmark, which works out at a little more more than three francs. The job of both Foster and each and every salesman he comes across is to strike the right balance for his business.

Born in Leicester, former chef Foster used to work with Swithenbank, another UK company with its roots in Bradford, well-known in Rungis for having operated a warehouse in the market's fruit and vegetable sector for 10 years. When the company faced up to the need for fundamental restructure, he joined Burbank, the brainchild of Simon Kershaw, former founder of Swithenbank, who had decided the time was right to run his own company.

“Burbank Rungis initial vocation is to provide Burbank and Delifresh with French products, mainly fresh produce and poultry. However the development of the company led us to work with clients all around the UK. We focus on secondary wholesalers specialised in providing the UK catering sector. We think they are the future,” says Foster.

Monday is usually devoted to rounding up the prices and gauging availability of produce in the market, negotiations of terms and specifications and eventually cementing orders to meet customer demand. He says: “The main fresh produce items are potatoes (especially baby potatoes, a line making good on the UK market), salads, and the vegetable lines that make up ratatouille, complemented by a range of specialities such as wild mushrooms, stonefruit and early vegetables.”

Foster sources produce from Rungis market and also from producers across France. “As our catering customer base requires the most seasonal fresh produce on offer, we source and supply from regional producers as often as we possibly can,” he says. “So we work with companies like Pom'Alliance or Azura and also with specialists like Chabaut for salads in Provence, Edelweiss for Ventoux cherries or Savio for watercress in the Parisian green belt. Rungis market acts for us above all as a central logistics facility for shipping into the UK.”

An ideally-situated central distribution hub it may be, but Foster believes Rungis is without equivalent for some fruits and vegetables: “We find specific items we couldn't find at New Covent Garden,” he explains, illustrating this by showing vine tomatoes packed in a long, folded rectangular punnet. “This for instance, is very interesting and there are many more innovative and unique products here besides.”

The Burbank supplier portfolio in Rungis includes well-known names such as GBS, Paris Select and Bidault among many others. The wide range of produce and also the diversity of origins that offer alternatives in quality standards for specific customer requirements are appreciated.

On a Tuesday, the produce will be collated, consolidated and prepared for shipping in the Fargier company's controlled temperature warehouse and its quality checked. To export is no easy task, of course, and the logistical hurdles are many, if far from insurmountable. Four hours are necessary for the lorry to reach Calais, 10 to reach the Bradford market facility. “To be competitive, we need to optimise the speed of this aspect of the job,” says Foster. “I must confess that the selection process of picking the fresh produce of one wholesale outlet above another does waste time sometimes.”

But the thorough nature of Foster's walk through the alleyways is key to everything. Burbank Rungis organise five sendings a week ñ around 100 pallets in all ñ and if just one of those pallets, or one of the items on those pallets is below the required standard, a customer will be left less than 100 per cent content with the service.

Next week, the Journal will look at the next stage of the process of getting Burbank's produce from A (Rungis) to B (its customers in the UK).

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