Tony and Mark's stick with Isuzu Trucks

Much like the top-shelf products they bring to market throughout Adelaide and its surrounds, Tony & Mark’s gourmet grocers have carefully nurtured long-held business relationships, from the produce growers, through to their customers, staff and even their transport partners.

It’s these lasting bonds that have seen a humble operation grow from a small greengrocer in Newton in Adelaide’s northeast, to a thriving business employing about 500 staff across the state capital.

Co-director Paul Capobianco, son of Tony & Mark’s Co-Founder Mark Capobianco, described the breadth of the current offer and its humble beginnings.

“The business was started in 1978 by my dad and my uncle. My grandfather was a produce grower, and they would help him pick the veggies and then sell them at Pooraka market,” Paul said.

“From there they decided to open their first retail store at Clovercrest the same year.”

Now, the family-run operation has seven locations across Adelaide and a string of internal brands including restaurants, florists, delis, butchers, fish and cheese mongers, catering, events, a gourmet product range and a blossoming wholesale division dubbed Tony & Mark’s Direct.

This arm of the business supplies fresh produce and fine food to restaurants, cafes, delicatessens, foodservice and retailers.

There’s a bit of an art to dealing with perishable product when it comes to transport and logistics. With decades in the game, Paul and his 15-strong team of drivers have applied some real rigor to this crucial cog of the broader operation.

They’re supported by the proven reliability that a brand like Isuzu Trucks provides.

“We've now got 13 Isuzu N Series trucks in the fleet, which we use on the food service side of the operation,” said Paul.

“We went exclusively with Isuzu for this task supplying the restaurants and the nursing homes from our warehouse at Newton.

“We’ve found these trucks help us with efficiency, flexibility and provide good driver comfort.”

The Tony & Mark’s fleet features an array of fit-for-purpose Isuzu product, meaning there’s a truck for just about every situation imaginable. The core of the line-up is eight medium wheelbase NNR 45-150 AMTs with refrigerated van body builds.

It’s the truck of choice for hundreds of food and general freight delivery operations across the country, and the NNR 55/45-150 platform offers a 4500kg GVM, meaning it can be piloted with a car licence, with the added advantage of an additional 1000kg of payload when upgraded to 5500kg for light-rigid licence holders.

Paired with Isuzu’s six-speed Torque Convertor - automated manual transmission, with its fully automatic and clutchless manual modes, combined with a torque convertor for added launch and drivability this makes for an easy driving experience.

The NNR 55/45-150 model range is also equipped with the unique Isuzu FI026 independent suspension front axle providing maximum comfort for a day of deliveries.

Paul explains this helps with a demanding on-road schedule.

“We’ll deliver down to McLaren Vale every day and that's about an hour out of Adelaide. That driver starts early, loads up, is on the road by eight, and then they would be doing multiple deliveries from Adelaide all the way down south, do the last delivery around three o'clock and make his way back to the depot,” Paul said.

“In a typical day across the fleet, we do around 300 deliveries to customers all over the Adelaide area. That’s an average of between 50 to 100 kilometres a day for each truck.”

With a couple of major contracts close to landing and a busy schedule already well entrenched, keeping pace with shifting transport demands is an ever-present task for Paul and the team.

Juggling this demand formed part of their decision to ‘stick’ with Isuzu and specifically, the tried and tested NNR 45-150 IFS.