Millennium Pacific's Justin Waites Discusses Quality, Brand Trust, and U.S.-Grown Winter Bell Peppers

TEHACHAPI, CA - What does reliability mean to you? To Justin Waites, Associate Director of Sales and Marketing for Millennium Pacific Produce, it means a quality commitment over quantity that has built brand recognition that defies the company’s footprint.

“I like to say that we're big enough to supply, but still small enough to care about what we grow. Our greenhouse is operated very much as a passion project. We're one of the largest family-run, privately held greenhouses in North America. The family part is still very strong, and we care deeply about what gets put out into the market and the quality of the product that wears our brand."

Consciously growing both its crop and its footprint, the company just celebrated the launch of its West Coast Bell Pepper Program, with a Canadian expansion teed up for next spring.

"We're going to be the only U.S. Grown greenhouse 11lb peppers available during the winter months, making this a very unique program,” Justin points out. “Ours is a true greenhouse, all under glass with no open air. Enclosed and grown in a high-tech establishment, our bell peppers are not only great quality but incredibly protected from a food safety standpoint.”

24 acres of high-tech greenhouse bell peppers grown Stateside can mean a strong resource for many markets in the nation, but circling back to that definition of reliability, Justin tells me Millennium remains committed to a shipping schedule that will keep the product in premium condition.

“It’s important to us to guarantee a certain window of freshness—the peppers are just phenomenal, and we’re really excited to offer a new local option during a unique window where gapping can occur," Justin states.

It is a stance that has ensured brand recognition based on a consistent experience across Millennium’s categories, making its cherry and heirloom tomatoes synonymous with charcuterie boards in its markets and garnering a deeply loyal customer base.

"It's not in anyone’s best interest, especially from a brand perspective, to put our sticker or label out in a market if we can't make sure the quality is really, really top-notch. We want them to want our product. Especially with produce, if somebody has one bad experience, good luck trying to get them back. They're going to look for other options," Justin points out.

In that vein, the company is ideally located to provide winter peppers and other products anywhere in the central U.S., from Washington down to Southern California, and the east-central U.S., picked, packed, and shipped the same day, with product arriving the following day ready to be shelved and bought.

While Justin does tease that if the rave reviews continue to trend in the West, it could incentivize an eastward expansion, it is clear that the horse comes before the proverbial cart—and that horse’s name is quality.

“At the end of the day, I find the quality of the product is what keeps consumers coming back. As a result, we make a lot of noise with what we put out into the market," Justin concludes.

With more growth already in the works, there is certainly more to anticipate from the greenhouse brand, so stay tuned.