‘Big City Produce NYC’ Airs on Cable

“Big City Produce NYC” (BCPNYC), a six-episode TV series that premiered in May on FiOS1 and Time Warner Cable’s metro New York channels, illustrates why nearly everything communities do on a daily basis in New York City and its environs points back to the Hunts Point Produce Terminal Market, which is widely known as the world’s largest wholesale produce market.

Besides displaying new offerings at the Bronx-based market, the show offers a tour of some of the region’s most famous kitchens to talk to the owners and chefs who source produce from Hunts Point. Additionally, BCPNYC profiles the market’s colorful merchants, some of whom are running second-, third- and fourth-generation businesses.

The series also employs trivia and news packages to help teach audiences healthy eating alternatives, as well as looking at how Hunts Point gives back to the community, most notably via donations of remaining produce at the end of each market day to organizations that aid underserved segments throughout the tri-state area of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.

According to its creators, the mini-series marks the first time a produce market anywhere in the world has developed a TV show to aid in branding and customer engagement.

“We hope that 'Big City Produce NYC' will engage our viewers to take notice and realize how important the market really is to the NYC metro community,” said Joel Fierman, CEO of Bronx-based fruit and vegetable broker Joseph Fierman and Son Inc. “Many people in the produce world already know the importance of Hunts Point as far as its standing in providing the freshest and most diverse produce available anywhere in the world, but what they don’t know is that our market is about much more than just fruits and vegetables. At the end of each year, Hunts Point is responsible for millions of pounds of donated food to organizations like City Harvest and the Food Bank of New York, which are so important to helping those less fortunate in our community.”

The market serves the New York area's many bodegas (convenience stores), independent greengrocers, restaurants, restaurant suppliers and secondary wholesalers, among others.

BCPNYC reaches an estimated 2.4 million homes. The program is also available On Demand on Time Warner Cable and FiOS1, and airs Saturday mornings at 7:30 a.m. on FiOS1 for the tri-state metro area.