Alpha One began as a ship chandler enterprise in 2012. Since then, the family-owned firm run by brothers Theo and James Vrettos, has transitioned to a provisioning and contract-based enterprise.
Theo Vrettos, chief working officer, stated that the shift occurred when the pandemic began, which made provisioning a problem for cruise traces, which is when Alpha One stepped in.
“We provided anything and everything to the cruise lines. We’re very good at finding urgent things,” stated Vrettos.
“From there, we became known as the emergency guys, the chandler guys.”
Alpha One has expanded its operations and now has three areas: New York, Miami and Piraeus, and has equipped cruise traces with all the pieces from flu pictures to helicopter gas. Selling oysters and pillows on the identical day is nothing uncommon, in keeping with Vrettos.
“We started our operations in New York and I decided to come down to Miami and do our ship chandler business there working with port agents and the vessels directly.”
Vrettos stated that it went nicely till 2019 and 2020 when the corporate determined to return to New York and put the enterprise in hibernation.
Following the pandemic, they had been contacted by Norwegian Cruise Line for meals provisioning.
“Following Covid, Norwegian Cruise Line started to ask us for food because their supply chain was so broken across the world. There was not enough food in this country, everything was short,” stated Vrettos.
He defined that the scarcity was extra evident on cruise ships than in every other trade.
“They’re not ordering one case of mayonnaise or two cases like a restaurant would order, they’re ordering two pallets worth.”
In November of 2021, the corporate returned to Miami, specializing in emergency provisions just for about 9 months.
“Now, we’re offering contracts on sausages, we have sausages that we distribute from a very good source in New York, and all the cruise lines really like their brand. We’re doing nuts and nut products like almond flour, walnut bits and pieces. So we’re slowly transitioning the business to become a vendor of contract-based items as well as servicing the emergency market,” stated Vrettos.
In addition to the ship chandler enterprise, since day one, Alpha One has been providing technical buying from their location in Greece.
Vrettos stated that the corporate owes its success to having the ability to meet tight deadlines and serving to cruise traces with emergency calls for.
“When nobody else could deliver, we were the guys that delivered and that’s what got us to this place that we’re now.”
In reality, the corporate’s slogan sums it up: “The impossible, we do right away, miracles take a little longer.”
So far, Alpha One’s greatest prospects within the cruise trade are Norwegian Cruise Line, Royal Caribbean, Carnival Cruises Line and the entire Holland America Group. Other prospects embrace port brokers, Intercruises and SMS.
In phrases of the longer term, Theo stated that Alpha One is planning an excellent larger growth and shall be relocating once more in 2023 in want of a bigger warehouse.
“We’re moving again. Right now, we’ve been working through rented freezer trailers and refrigerator trailers that we’ve been using. We also work with cold storage because we need to store frozen items so we do have a cold storage partner at the moment. However, our new facility that we’re going into is going to be top of the line. We’re going to have a brand new freezer, a brand new refrigerator, loading docks, more office space, more everything.”