REEDLEY, CA - Fruit World Co. has announced that Cindy Richter has joined the company as Director of Business Development.
"Fruit World, with our growing, buying, and sales experience, brings a unique perspective to the California fruit industry,” said Richter. “We focus on win-win relationships and exceeding expectations for our growers, buyers and consumers. I’m very excited to share our passion and authenticity.”
According to a press release, with 21 years at Pacific Organic Produce, Richter has a great deal of experience and a rich agriculture background which began with farm operations and included managing grower relationships, exports, sales and business development, with a stint in agriculture education along the way. In this newly created position, she will help foster and guide Fruit World’s strategic growth and serve as a bridge between growers, buyers, and consumers.
"We founded Fruit World to celebrate and carry on our family legacies of sustainable farming practices and good stewardship of the land,” said Bianca Kaprielian, Co-Founder. “We’re committed to sharing our delicious fruit and depth of farming knowledge with future generations. We have built our company by honoring and supporting our farms and growers while delivering unparalleled service to fresh produce buyers."
Co-Founder C.J. Buxman is also very enthusiastic about Richter joining the company.
"Cindy’s integrity aligns perfectly with our values, and her strong grower and customer relationships will allow us to continue to grow while maintaining the quality and service our customers expect and deserve,” said Buxman. “She’s joining us at a perfect time, as we are entering our organic apricot and cherry season."
Richter will be attending the Organic Produce Summit along with Buxman and Kaprielian this July in Monterey.
Congratulations Cindy Richter from the AndNowUKnow team!
MCDOWELL COUNTY, NC - Last week, a grisly scene greeted onlookers when, in the early hours of Tuesday, April 30, a tractor trailer carrying watermelons caught fire. More than 200 charred and crushed melons littered the road.
According to a report from The McDowell News, the incident took place just after 4:00 a.m. when the truck—headed westbound along I-40 near the 70 mile marker—blew out its right rear tire. The shredded treads wrapped round the car's wheel assembly and caught fire, igniting the trailer and scattering its cargo.
Emergency units and law enforcement units responded shortly after, and various agencies were on the scene for the ensuing four hours working on clearing the road and cleaning up bright red carnage scattered along the roadside.
No injuries were reported, thankfully, though the scene looked like a veritable melon massacre.
For more fresh produce news, keep reading AndNowUKnow.
FRIENDSWOOD, TX - A familiar face is coming to the Friendswood City Council—familiar to us in the produce industry that is. Brothers Produce/Houston Cold Storage CEO Brent Erenwert defeated incumbent Carl W. Gustafson this weekend, beating the career politician by a wide margin and earning a spot on the Houston suburb’s council.
“Working in the produce industry has taught me so much about managing people, logistics, integrity, and most of all service,” said Brent, on the occasion of his victory. “When you represent a city it is your job to be at their service. In the produce world, good thoughts bear good fruit and bad thoughts bear bad fruit.”
According to the Houston Chronicle, Erenwert gathered an impressive 978 votes to Gustafson’s 760.
And with an impressive 56.27 percent of total votes, Erenwert’s platform—which includes promoting sustainable growth and involving more young people in city affairs—resonated resoundingly with Friendswood voters.
We here at AndNowUKnow congratulate Brent and wish him the best in his burgeoning political career.
For more fresh produce news, keep reading AndNowUKnow.
MONTEREY, CA - When I started working for AndNowUKnow nearly eight years ago, many companies still spoke in generalities about organic and conventional. In other words, they were all just collected into an update about blueberries or specialty tomatoes. Nowadays, the terms are far from grouped together. Organic is a stand-alone driver at retail and foodservice, and for a good number of companies, what may have been a supplemental segment of a larger program is now a staple—let’s say, organic as a movement.
With the Organic Produce Summit just months away, slated for July 10th and 11th at the Monterey Conference Center, it is never too early to start planning for the opportunities and highlights that are sure to define the event. At the very least, we hope to pique your interest as much as ours already is. And as you can see here, that of a few others as well.
Check out what some of our friends in the industry had to say about the value of the event and the excitement that is already brewing.
Frank Padilla, Vice President and General Merchandise Manager for Produce and Meat, Costco
“Costco looks forward to networking and connecting with the 148 organic growers, shippers, and processors at the Organic Produce Summit 2019,” Frank shares with me. “We look forward to the educational sessions where we will learn about consumer purchasing trends, International trends in organics, and how to tackle food waste. The Summit will help us to continue to secure a steady supply of organic produce in order to meet the needs of our members.”
Bob Borda, Vice President of Organic Sales, Grimmway
“The Organic Produce Summit is one of the premier fresh produce shows of the year. The location and quality of attendance make for a very productive business setting and the timing of the show gives us a chance to showcase our complete Cal-Organic line, including year-round offerings and niche, seasonal items. I look forward to spending quality time with our customers at OPS year after year.”
Chris Miller, Regional Coordinator of Produce, Meat, Bulk Seafood, Cheese, MOM's Organic Market
"As a retailer chain that only sells Certified Organic Produce, the OPS is a great opportunity to touch base with the key organic players in the vendor community that we currently work with and to make new contacts. It is the perfect sized show to get enough personal time with anyone I am looking to chat with. In the past, this show has been a great way to find new vendors that may not have made it to the East Coast yet. I am looking forward to taking part in the field tours this year as an opportunity to learn about innovation at the farm level."
Scott Mabs, Chief Executive Officer, Homegrown Organic Farms
“We are looking forward to the July event once again as it addresses an important area of industry growth and fills a significant need for a dedicated show in the organic produce industry. The high-quality and intimate event brings together the best of the organic produce industry buyers and suppliers.”
Cherie France, Marketing Manager, Homegrown Organic Farms
“This year, we hope to build upon our current retail relationships and also create new ones. We are thankful for Matt, Tonya, and Susan’s leadership and how they’ve guided the show into the success it is today.”
John Savidan, Senior Director of Produce and Floral, Gelson’s Markets
“I am really hoping to discover new items that scream innovation. We at Gelson’s pride ourselves in being the industry leader when it comes to selling the highest quality items available within the market place, and organic is no exception. We have a strong reputation for being the so-called “incubator” for new high-quality products that other markets cannot touch. Having this wonderful characteristic helps us build our business in areas that others simply cannot. This is a great show for gaining new contacts, but I really enjoy seeing our current partners, and nurturing these relationships that have helped build the foundation for the future.”
While July may seem a season away, you do not need me to remind you that time has a mind of its own in our industry—and it flies. See you all in July!
SAN ANTONIO, TX - Two weeks ago, the industry was thrivin’ and jivin’ down in the Lone Star State, and for good reason! Innovation is synonymous with Viva Fresh Expo, so it’s no surprise that those in the produce community stepped up to show off the goods. One such company was Kingdom Fresh, and I had the opportunity to speak with Jaime Garcia, General Manager, to learn more about its latest programs.
“We have a new program of cucumbers in place, hydroponic and greenhouse grown. It’s a new item that we’re adding to our portfolio so we can have a one-stop shop for our customers,” Jaime told me, before diving into the company’s other focus: renewable energy.
“Our organic grape tomatoes are being packed in a compostable tray. We’ve been doing this since 2016 and we’ve gotten a good response from our partners and retailers,” he said.
As the non-plastic movement continues to swell, it makes sense that companies like Kingdom Fresh would ensure its customers are able to provide that to consumers.
Jaime concluded with perhaps my favorite quote of the show: “We like to be greener, give something back to our Mother Earth as she’s giving us all the needs for growing beautiful produce.”
Talk about a closing line! For the full interview, watch our exclusive video above.
BAKERSFIELD, CA - Sun World International announced the sale of its leased and owned California farming property this morning, May 6, 2019. According to Sun World’s press release, the company has sold that property to “an investor group, which has contracted with Sun Pacific to farm the vineyards.” The newly acquired entity will be called “Famous Vineyards.”
Sun World is owned by Renewable Resources Group LLC (RRG), a California-based asset management firm specializing in sustainable investing.
“As enthusiastic as we are about advancing our breeding and licensing business, we’re mindful of Sun World’s farming heritage and the sale of this land was a carefully considered decision,” said Current Sun World CEO, Merrill Dibble, who will reportedly will stay on to work closely with all parties to manage a smooth transition. “Our understanding that the new owner plans to farm the acreage was critical to us in terms of our colleagues’ continued employment. RRG has invested significantly in Sun World. They planted new vines and brought their expertise in operations and sustainability to virtually every aspect of our business. There’s every reason to feel optimistic about the future of this land and the people who’ll farm it.”
Included in the transaction are Sun World’s farmland in California’s San Joaquin and Coachella Valleys. The understanding is that the acquired land will continue to be farmed for table grapes. The new owners have indicated that they will finalize staffing decisions within the coming 10 days.
Jason Fuller, VP of Sales for Famous Vineyards, expressed enthusiasm for the transition and noted, “We are committed to maintaining the strong supply programs and relationships built over the years.”
Sun World will retain its SUN WORLD® brand, global fruit and intellectual property licensing business and longstanding table grape and stone fruit variety development program. All business entities will be operated as Sun World Innovations at transaction close and will be headquartered in Palm Desert, California.
The transaction will, according to the company’s press release, trigger a redeployment of resources to Sun World Innovations the company’s technology, breeding and licensing business.
“We’re convinced of our team’s limitless potential to break new ground in fruit breeding and genetics,” said Sun World EVP and head of Sun World Innovations, David Marguleas. “By focusing additional investment on this side of the business, we intend to accelerate growth in a meaningful way.”
For more breaking news in fresh produce, keep reading AndNowUKnow.
SAN ANTONIO, TX - If your produce career is less than 25 years old, you have not operated in an industry where the Tomato Suspension Agreement did not exist. That’s about to change come tomorrow, May 7, when Congress’ notice of withdrawal goes into effect. But even then, all the questions that have stirred within this significant produce category over the past several months might not be answered.
“When the Department of Commerce put out that notice of intent, it said that it would withdraw on May 7. So, as of May 7, the agreement would come to an end and duties would go in place of presumably 17.56 percent. That’s what was agreed to last time even though only one or two of those companies are in business—the ones originally surveyed out of Mexico in the same shape that their in, those are the numbers they are likely to use. We’re not absolutely positive of that, but that’s probably what’s going to happen,” Lance Jungmeyer, President of the Fresh Produce Association of the Americas (FPAA), shared with those gathered to hear Viva Fresh’s discussion panel on the suspension agreement on April 26 in San Antonio, Texas.
As of that date, Jungmeyer assured that companies are going to be required to start putting up duties. He, along with Jason Klinowski of Wallace, Jordan, Ratli & Brandt LLC and J.O. Alvarez of U.S. customs house broker J.O. Alvarez, Incorporated, brought expertise from both the history of the agreement and current legal and political conditions to help lift the fog a bit and touch on opportunities for all in the tomato business to be ready.
On Klinowski’s part, the best preparation was to already be planning with bonds, banks, and insurers.
“Right now, everybody is going to have, I’m assuming, at least a $50K minimum commercial bond that comes in. Whether you are a Mexican grower serving as your own importer of record or you are the U.S. importer of record, in an anti-dumping duty situation, which is different than a tariff because it is a penalty-type situation, your bonds increase,” Klinowski said.
He emphasized those in the room should already be in contact with banks for letters of credit as needed to best avoid disruption in their supply chain from customs demanding higher bonds.
“In a anti-dumping situation, a $50K bond will get you roughly $2.8 million of interred value before you’re going to get a notice of bond insufficiency from customs. And at that point in time, pay up or stop. So these type of things need to be planned for now, and that doesn’t even touch on how you evaluate the relationships, how you modify your contracts to make sure you can certify what you need to certify; you deduct what you need to deduct, and keep your eye on, ultimately, the bigger issue, which is the proper valuing and pricing methodology that works for you,”Klinowski said.
Alvarez had some consolation with his decades of experience as a customs broker, sharing that while customs aims to review bonding requirements every 30 days, it is more like 60.
“They'll see a big jump,” he explained. “Let’s say now you’re paying zero duties, and then they look at your shipments and they see your paying a couple hundred thousand dollars’ worth of duties, they might let you go three, four, five months, maybe eight, a year if you’re lucky, before they say you need to increase your bond.”
To increase the bond, especially foreign-based importer records, Alvarez agreed with Klinowski that all insurances are going to require collateral, meaning a letter of credit or a cash deposit to back up the bond. The dollar amount the bond stretches that Klinowski shared, Alvarez translated to a couple of months’ worth of shipments, depending on the value of merchandise, until customs sends a request for a bond increase.
“We’re preparing for the customer not to get the letter of credit yet. Go to the bank, tell them what you need, get the bank to draw up what’s called a draft letter of credit so that if and when this goes into place, this draft basically is telling the bonding company this bank is ready to do a letter of credit for this importer,” he advised.
Another way to be ready Alvarez touched on was for the importer of record to have an automated clearing house account with customs.
“Your customs broker I think will be a good in-between with the importer, the exporter, customs, the insurance company, but duty payments are required and in this case, depending on the import of record if he has an automated clearing house account, you can pay your duties every 30 days. It helps to have that with customs. But if you don’t have one it’s going to take you 45 days to set up an automated clearing house with customs, and that gives you the opportunity to, instead of paying duties every shipment, you can pay them every 30 days,” he shared.
Much is still in the air, and will remain so even in the months following tomorrow’s May 7 deadline, but some changes that seem certain are how importers and exporters will define relationships, how contracts will be written, prices across the supply chain, and the number of players in the industry.
AndNowUKnow will go deeper into those changes from these veterans’ perspectives in a follow-up to this piece, so stay tuned.
BROOKLYN, NY - Wegmans is hitting the Big Apple, announcing that it will open its first New York City location on Sunday, October 27. The new store is one of 17 locations to be opened in 2019.
“The Brooklyn community has been eagerly awaiting the opening date for this store,” said Vice President and District Manager Todd Ferrera. “October 27 is just around the corner, and we can’t wait to celebrate with everyone.”
Spanning 74,000-square-feet, the store will feature more than 60,000 individual products, according to a press release. In addition to an extensive restaurant-quality prepared foods department and more than 4,000 organic products, this will include:
- Hundreds of produce items
- Fresh seafood delivered whole and cut to order daily
- 300 varieties of imported and domestic cheese
- A second-floor mezzanine with a bar, serving food and wine, beer, and spirits
Located on Flushing Avenue in the Admirals Row development of Brooklyn, the retailer began hiring 150 full-time employees began in January. While it said this is ongoing, it is now looking to fill an additional 350 part-time positions.
“Although the opening is still several months away, new employees begin in-depth training soon after they’re hired so that they’re knowledgeable and fully prepared to deliver incredible customer service,” said Store Manager Kevin Cuff, a 21-year-long employee of the family company who began his career as a part-time parking lot attendant. “Wegmans has a long-standing reputation as an exceptional employer, with tremendous opportunity for career growth and development.”
In total, the store will employ 500 people, the vast majority hired locally. Open positions include: prep cook, line cook, lead cook, and full-time customer service positions throughout the store, as well as part-time positions in restaurant foods, sushi, pizza, bakery, produce, deli, cheese, day and overnight grocery.
Interviews are conducted by appointment only. Applications are neither available nor accepted at the construction site, but can be filled out online at jobs.wegmans.com.
The company noted its employment offers competitive pay and benefits, flexible scheduling, an employee scholarship program, and a workplace known for a caring, family atmosphere. For 22 consecutive years, Wegmans has ranked high on FORTUNE Magazine’s list of “The 100 Best Companies to Work For,” most recently placing third in 2019.
Stay tuned as we look to this new step in Wegmans' footprint, as well as additional influential moves in the produce industry.
HOUSTON, TX - I think it is best to let the numbers speak for themselves. This week, the Sysco Corporation released financial results for its 13-week third fiscal quarter, which ended March 30, 2019 showing strong improved year-over-year growth and in line with the company's expectations. A noteable highlight of the financial release: Sysco’s net earnings were up 33.3 percent to $440.1 million versus last year, according to the company.
As NASDAQ reports, Sysco’s quarterly earnings of $0.79 per share beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $0.70 per share—compared to earnings of $0.67 per share a year ago.
“Our results for the quarter show strong improved year-over-year growth and are in line with our expectations,” Tom Bené, Sysco’s Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer. “Our continued focus on profitable growth and supporting our customers at a high level, balanced with managing expenses well, allowed us to deliver solid operating income growth this quarter.”
Other notable features of the recently release financials according to the company include:
Third Quarter Fiscal 2019 Highlights:
- Sales increased 2.2% to $14.7 billion
- Gross profit increased 2.9% to $2.8 billion; gross margin increased 14 basis points
- Operating income increased 9.8% to $529.6 million; adjusted¹ operating income increased 16.6% to $620.2 million
- EPS increased $0.22 to $0.85; adjusted¹ EPS increased $0.12 to $0.79
First 39 Weeks of Fiscal 2019 Highlights:
- Sales increased 2.8% to $44.6 billion
- Gross profit increased 3.2% to $8.4 billion; gross margin increased 7 basis points
- Operating income decreased 1.3% to $1.6 billion; adjusted¹ operating income increased 8.5% to $1.9 billion
- EPS increased $0.32 to $2.17; adjusted¹ EPS increased $0.25 to $2.45
For the third quarter fiscal 2019 results for the company’s U.S. foodservice operations alone, sales for the third quarter were up 4.1 percent to $10.1 billion, compared to the same period last year. Gross profit increased by 5.1 percent to $2.0 billion, according to the company, while gross margin increased 18 basis points to 19.9 percent, compared to the same period last year.
In terms of operating expenses, this number increased 2.4 percent or $28.7 million, compared to the same period last year. Adjusted operating expenses increased $27.4 million, or 2.3 percent, due mainly to labor and supply chain costs in both warehouse and transportation.
Operating income was $765.4 million, an increase of $68.8 million, or 9.9 percent, compared to the same period last year.
As of May 6, 2:16 PM EDT Sysco stock was at 72.23 USD +1.71 (2.42%)
Looking for more financial updates from industry leaders within foodservice and beyond? Keep checking back with AndNowUKnow for more as we move toward the second half of 2019.
WENATCHEE, WA - Stemilt Growers has been recognized yet again for its work to support Produce for Better Health Foundation (PBH) and its goal of increasing consumption of fruits and vegetables. This is the 11th consecutive year that Stemilt has been acknowledged as a Role Model. In 2007, the company was among the first industry/non-retail companies to receive the status.
“It’s an honor to advocate for the great work that PBH does for our industry,” said Roger Pepperl, Marketing Director. “Achieving Role Model status each year is not done for the recognition of Stemilt, but rather to help consumers enjoy more servings of wholesome fruits and veggies.”
According to a press release, Stemilt earned Role Model status by working to increase familiarity of PBH and their Fruits & Veggies—More Matters® consumer campaign. The company promotes the message on packaging, retail displays, and through digital marketing, including its website and social channels.
Held in late April in Scottsdale, AZ, the award recognition was part of PBH’s annual Consumer Connections conference. During the event, PBH unveiled a new consumer movement to replace More Matters®. The movement is called 'Have a Plant' and serves to educate the public and shift fruit and vegetable behaviors among today’s consumers, particularly Millennials and Gen Z.
Pepperl expressed he is thrilled about Have a Plant and the direction that PBH is focusing its consumer efforts around.
“The excitement and energy around Have a Plant™ is just what our produce world needs,” he stated. “Inspiring more consumers, and especially the next generation of shoppers, to eat fruits and veggies as a way to live healthy and happy lives is going to be a fun message to help spread.”
Pepperl was also named a PBH Ambassador at the conference. Ambassadors are chosen based off of the advocacy work they do with PBH members and the greater produce and supermarket industry.
Congratulations to the Stemilt team on this continued streak in industry recognition!