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Thumbs-up at All Green
All Green Nursery has built up from backyard to bustling enterprise with the help of its increasing Isuzu fleetRomeo Fragapane is the Owner and Director of All Green Nursery and Garden Supplies, one of the largest independent nurseries in Australia.
While All Green has become an institution in the Hoppers Crossing area, the business was once just a back-yard operation.
“It all started in a back yard only 500 metres from here,” Romeo says, from the shade of one of many greenhouses spread throughout All Green’s five-acre site.
“Together with my father, mother and siblings, our family became market gardeners on the same property. Everything happened straight from our back yard.
“Going back 45 years ago, we became the first market gardeners to start selling indoor plants to supermarkets.
“Dad and I would plod along with my sisters, and from there it just grew and grew.”
Nowadays, All Green is a landscaper’s nirvana, supplying everything from cement to sand, screening to scoria and bark to Banksias. The nursery’s range is as vast as the area it occupies.
And one of the first things you notice as you enter the yard is the fleet of 32 shining Isuzus, weaving around the bays of woodchips and soils, flaunting All Green colours.
“We’ve got a fleet of 32 Isuzus, mainly tippers, that range from three to 13.5 tonnes,” Romeo said. “They’re the best trucks on the road for hauling garden supplies.
“They mainly do tipper work, but I’ve got a couple of tautliners as well. They’re a very strong truck, superbly reliable and Isuzu’s back-up service is the best on the market by a long shot,” he said.
Although by sheer scale, All Green may look like a national franchise, it’s a family business whose rapid growth has never relied on massive pockets, but on strong community connections and customer service.
“In the beginning, people got to know us from the backyard of my dad’s place,” Romeo beams.
“We had a couple of hothouses with indoor plants. People would come over and say ‘Oh, why don’t you get some shrubs?’ So we got some shrubs.
“Then we were asked, ‘What about some bark and soil?’ Well, we started with a few bins and a bit of soil and it eventuated from there.
“Every year we increased our size by 30 to 40 per cent. Every single year. We started with a team of four of us and 35 years down the track, we have over 80 employees.”
“A lot of our work’s local and we have a strong community focus,” Romeo says.
“But Point Cook has grown over the years and Tarneit’s huge now, so we go everywhere, Cranbourne to Geelong, you name it.
“Our Isuzus do from 200,000 to 250,000 km a year. They fire up at 6:30 am and they’re still going at 4:30 in the afternoon.
Interestingly, more than the competitive prices or high quality that All Green is famous for, Romeo emphasises the importance of strong business relationships, and he’s not one to shy away from a loyal partnership.
“I’m a service man,” Romeo says. “I don’t demand anything, but I want a fair price, and I treat others the same.
“That’s why we buy all our trucks through Ballarat Isuzu.
“Ballarat takes hours for me to travel to, but I have a great relationship with Ian Deacon (the Dealer Principal) and they never let me down.
“They always do the right thing by me and we can negotiate on price,” he grins.
“We work the Isuzus very hard but they’ve been great, and I’ll keep buying them for as long as I’m running the business.”
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Written byTrucksales Staff
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