WINTER HAVEN, FL – Westlake Produce is welcoming procurement and sales specialist Gonzalo Alvarado to its team to oversee its new Austin, Texas office.
Over the past ten years, Gonzalo has gained valuable experience in South American and Mexican tropicals. Prior to joining Westlake, he was employed by Splendid Products in the San Francisco Bay Area.
“What attracted me to Westlake Produce was their commitment to Service Above All,” he said. “In this market’s competitive environment, it is satisfying to be a part of a team that still emphasizes values such as customer service and developing strong partnerships. I am excited to contribute to the continued growth of Westlake’s tropical department and deliver the highest quality products to our customers.”
Westlake’s entry into Texas will give the company a stronger foothold in the south and complement its existing offices in Winter Haven, Florida and Los Angeles, California.
“We have always wanted to open a sales office in Texas to add to our successful Florida and California operations,” said President and CEO Bill Brooks. “Finding the right person to build a project around has been a tedious search. Gonzalo, with his experience, service philosophy, and passion for the industry, is just the right individual to build a successful sales team.”
Congrats on joining the Westlake team, Gonzalo!
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has imposed sanctions on two produce businesses under the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act (PACA).
According to a press release from the USDA, the following companies and individuals are restricted from operating in the produce industry:
- Mega Fresh LLC, a Branford, Connecticut-based company, has allegedly failed to pay a $28,438 award in favor of a Florida seller. As of the issuance date of the reparation order, Gary L. Connolly was listed as a member of the business.
- Melonhead LLC, a Boulder, Colorado-based company, was barred for failing to pay a $44,366 award in favor of a Colorado seller. As of the issuance date of the reparation order, Michael S. Joseph was listed as a member of the business.
The Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS), PACA Division, regulates fair trading practices of produce businesses operating subject to PACA, which includes buyers, sellers, commission merchants, dealers, and brokers within the fruit and vegetable industry. All oversight of actions related to PACA are conducted by AMS, an agency within the USDA.
In the past three years, the USDA resolved approximately 4,250 PACA claims involving more than $77 million. Its experts also assisted more than 7,000 callers with issues valued at approximately $110 million. These are just two examples of how the USDA continues to support the fruit and vegetable industry.
WENATCHEE, WA – Chicago’s BlogHer Food, a conference that hosted food bloggers and influencers from around the nation, was treated to a breakfast event hosted by Stemilt Growers as it brought some of the best of Washington to the Windy City.
“This was our first time at BlogHer Food, and we were very impressed by the caliber of media who traveled from all over the country to come to the event, all for the love of great food,” Roger Pepperl, Stemilt’s Director of Marketing, said in a press release. “We love that we were able to show the attendees a bit of our Pacific Northwest apple traditions.”
The private breakfast event, which took place on Nov. 6th, saw 25 top food bloggers from all over that were treated to Stemilt’s history, its ongoing mission to grow World Famous Fruit, and the following four proprietary products:
- Fresh Blenders
- Lil Snappers
- Skylar Rae Cherries
- Piñata Apples
Among those in attendance at the breakfast were Lauren Allen of Tastes Better from Scratch, Jen Rattie of My Crafty Life, Echo Blickenstff of Favorite Family Recipes and many more national food media representatives.
Merchandising Manager Jocelyn Gerard, who shared the history with the attendees, also conducted a comprehensive apple taste test to showcase varieties like Gala, Honeycrisp, Piñata, Pink Lady, and SweeTango.
Roger added, “Our Piñata apples were the biggest hit with the bloggers, who admired the profile of the apple for its culinary distinctiveness. We are looking forward to growing relationships with some of the top bloggers in the food industry who attended our event.”
Besides being able to try Stemilt’s signature Simple ABC Smoothie featuring Tart Fresh Blenders, the company said that BlogHer Food also gave it the opportunity to tout its kid-sized fruit Lil Snappers and Fresh Blenders, the grower’s apple offerings packaged for juicing and blending.
The quickness of many parent bloggers to inquire about Stemilt’s proprietary products bolstered its confidence in the continued growth of demand for items like Lil Snappers and Fresh Blenders as awareness spreads across the country.
The company added that a number of bloggers, who often incorporate fruits into their articles and recipes, expressed interest in working with its apples and pears for their upcoming holiday recipes.
Stemilt also just saw the first snow of the season for the area of its late, late cherry orchard.
Roger stated that this orchard is a newer planting that will continue to extend the season with cherries at, or above, 3,000 feet above sea level.
SALINAS, CA - At this year’s US Foods Fall 2015 Food Lovers Forum in Chicago, the foodservice company took the time to recognize its 2015 Produce Vendor of the Year—Mann Packing.
“We are honored that US Foods recognized Mann and our relationship with them,” said Gina Nucci, Director of Foodservice Marketing. “They are an important customer we look forward to further building a significant partnership together.”
Every year, US Foods chooses six vendors as the company’s “Vendors of the Year.” Categories include an Innovation Award, four category awards (Center of the Plate, Grocery, Non-Foods and Produce), and the Easy To Do Business With Award.
According to US Foods, these awards recognize vendor partners who demonstrate excellence over the past year in various aspects, including as innovators in packaging development and R&D, experts in commodity purchasing and risk management, and creators of new, ingenious solutions that add value to products. US Foods explains that the selected vendors also provided best-in-class service to US Foods associates and shared customers.
As we’ve previously reported, Mann Packing also won Sysco’s Supplier of the Year award earlier this year.
KANSAS CITY, MO - Multivac has announced a new hire to the company’s sales team, appointing Ryan A. Spencer to Product Specialist – Compact Equipment. In his new role, Spencer will lead Multivac’s inside sales effort for all “compact” (CPS) equipment, such as chamber equipment, belt-fed chambers and medical chambers, while also maintaining proper inventory of equipment.
“I’m very excited about joining Multivac and helping drive further awareness and sales of our CPS equipment,” Spencer said. “Customers throughout North America, and around the world, know the Multivac brand and the quality it represents. My team and I are ready to continue promoting the positive attributes of our CPS equipment and the Multivac brand.”
According to a press release, Multivac expects Spencer’s addition will bring a wealth of experience and expertise to the company. Since July of 2009, he has held titles such as Senior Marketing Specialist, Product Support Specialist, and was most recently a Customer Engagement Specialist at Milbank Manufacturing. Before his career began, Spencer earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Missouri in 2009.
With the addition on Spencer, Multivac will continues its growth within the thermoform food package industry. In the past year, the company has launched new products, including the R 105 MF Thermoformer, a fully automatic, cost-effective system optimized to produce high-quality vacuum skin packaging. The company says it will also be building a 32,000 square-foot manufacturing addition to its Kansas City facility by early Summer 2016.
MINNEAPOLIS, MN – Target is enhancing its produce team with another new addition: Robby Cruz.
Sources say that the 21-year Albertsons/Safeway veteran has been appointed as Target’s new Director of Perishables Sourcing, Merchandising. This change will be made effective December 1, 2015. Robby will oversee Target’s perishables business, all while delivering freshness and improving the overall guest experience.
During his tenure at Safeway, Robby held several leadership roles across sales, marketing, merchandising, and strategic procurement of produce and floral. His experience will no doubt be of great value as Target looks to expand its presence in fresh, perishable foods.
His team at Target will consist of Senior Produce Sourcing Leads Mike Tucker, Brendon Krieg, Andrew Schuster, and Jerry Arne, and Sourcing Analysts Diego Diaz, Natalie Obst, and Ryan Rogers.
This isn’t the first seasoned Safeway professional that Target has tapped in 2015. Scott Bradley, Safeway’s former Vice President of Corporate Supply Chain, joined Target as its new Vice President of Perishables earlier this year, as we previously reported.
The news of Robby’s addition comes hot on the heels of recent announcements that Target would be looking to perform fresh-focused tests at 25 Los Angeles stores and potentially seek outside partnerships to strengthen its fresh food supply chain.
Could this be the start of a produce revolution at Target? While it’s still too early to tell, these hires certainly hint that something is in the works, especially given the retailer’s acceleration in food sales this past quarter.
As we covered in a previous report, Target CEO Brian Cornell said that he was encouraged by the company’s improved performance in food, saying, “We’ve been very focused on assortment changes and bringing more natural, organic local items into many of our categories, and we’re seeing the guest react very favorably.”
We will have to continue to wait and see how exactly Target will up its game in the perishables department, but if Robby and Scott’s appointments are anything to consider, it could be promising.
NOGALES, AZ – As we approach the colder winter months, Crown Jewels is looking to ramp up production in the coming weeks on some of its new items, while winding down on melons for the season.
The company’s Mexican melon program, typically offered during the spring and fall months, will be wrapping up in Sonora within the next few weeks. Speaking with Atomic Torosian, Crown Jewels’ partner, he says that it’ll be another week or two before the watermelon and mini watermelon season concludes, and another two or three weeks for honeydews.
As the melon season comes to an end, Crown Jewels will begin increasing production on its recently introduced items – hard squash and grapefruit. The hard squash season will run through May, while grapefruit will go until March.
“We are slowly increasing our daily production of hard squashes, such as Spaghetti, Butternut, and Acorn,” Atomic tells us. “As far as grapefruit goes, we will start our Star Ruby variety packed under our Crown Jewels label coming in from the state of Sinaloa the second week of December.”
Other items that have just started up are eggplant and green bell peppers, which will be in good production on the week of December 7th, and colored bell peppers, which Atomic says will be coming on line in mid-December.
The recent cool days and cold nights in its growing areas have slowed down production on most squashes and cucumbers, but that should change next week. On the first week of December, production on these items should start to ramp back up and increase from the Guaymas, Sonora growing district.
Grapes continue to be a huge focus for the company as it expects a substantial increase to its total program with new plantings in all growing areas of Mexico. Crown Jewels is still shipping late season storage grapes from California with Crimsons, Autumn King Green grapes, and Autumn Royal Black grapes from its local growers in the San Joaquin Valley. Crown Jewels’ grapes from Peru should start before the first of the year, Atomic says.
Other items wrapping up in California include Crown Jewels’ Granny Smith and Pink Lady variety apples from its “Tradition” label in the Sacramento area and its Crown Jewels pomegranates from the Mendota area. These items should finish their seasons by mid-December.
As we previously reported, Crown Jewels is launching “King’s Taste,” a new reinvigorated label for select produce items. This label will be used for items including melons and grapes to pear and apple packaging applications.
The New Year is fast approaching, and the company is continuing to offer more innovative programs from its retail customers in the United States and Canada.
Stay tuned as we continue to follow the development of Crown Jewels’ evolving produce program.
WENATCHEE, WA - With October’s National Apple Month now behind us, retail scan data for the category is now revealing new details about sales and volume, CMI reports.
While apple sales typically peak nationally in October, the 2015 apple category had a bit different results. According to the October monthly report from Nielsen, the apple category declined by 7% in volume and 4% in dollars. Apple category contribution declined to 7.5% from 8.2% in October 2014.
“With a shorter crop both nationally and out of Washington State, supermarkets are really forced to be creative to increase sales,” explains Don Patella, Regional Marketing Director for CMI. “Nearly all category growth is being driven by branded apples. A lot of retailers are seizing the opportunity while many others have yet to react to the unique opportunities presented with this crop.”
According to CMI, the Nielsen data shows that for the four-week period ending October 24, three apple varieties made the top 10 nationally. The three—Sweetango®, Ambrosia™ and Cripps Pink—generated increases in both dollars and volume, the data shows, with the shorter crop also impacting the Honeycrisp variety, which declined by 5.5% in volume for the month.
“The challenges in the apple category this year will be very unique,” continues Patella. “Retailers will face declining volume and inflated retails. But more importantly, shifting consumer tastes and rising quality expectations means retailers really need to think creatively about how to tap into branded apples to stop dollar erosion by driving transactions upward into premium apples.”
Patella says that growth in organics continues to be the top growth opportunity for retailers.
“Already this season organic apple sales have jumped nearly 6% while conventional apple sales continue to slide. The most successful retailers are leveraging organics to build transaction size,” Patella adds. “Nielsen data shows that for the month of October, the number one selling branded organic apple in the entire category is CMI's Daisy Girl Organics™ 2-pound pouch bag, up an incredible 81% over a year ago.”
With the company’s Daisy Girl program in its third year of performing well on the charts in 2-pound organic pouch bag sales, Patella says that organics are hot and Daisy Girl is even hotter.
BANCROFT, WI — Tasteful Selections™ bite-sized potatoes has joined the table of the nation’s largest turkey grocery dinner giveaway, the 33rd Annual E.J. Jackson Foundation Turkey Grocery Giveaway.
The company has donated 12,500 pounds of potatoes to the holiday cause.
“At Tasteful Selections we are extremely passionate about contributing to programs, like the E.J. Jackson Foundation, aimed at fighting hunger,” Russell Wysocki, President and CEO of RPE, Co-Owner of Tasteful Selections, said in a press release. “With the holiday season, we are grateful that we are able to give back and help those families in need.”
Taking place in Los Angeles, California, today, Nov. 24, this donation will help to provide a healthy meal to thousands that need it most. According to the company, a total of 10,000 boxes of groceries will be given away, including all the fixings of a traditional Thanksgiving dinner, to residents throughout Southern California including:
- Low income seniors
- Disabled veterans
- Those living with disabilities
The event kicked off at 8 a.m. Pacific this morning. The dinners housing Tasteful Selections’ potatoes, turkey, and more are being distributed at the Jackson Limousine Services parking lot, 3669 West Slauson Boulevard, Los Angeles. Special guests participating in the huge giveaway include actor Lou Gossett, Jr.
Tasteful Selections’ unique varieties, which are grown in Bakersfield, California, year around, are currently available in more than 10,000 retail stores nationwide.
COLLEGE PARK, MD - It looks like the peak of El Niño is about to arrive and here to stay, according to new reports from the Climate Prediction Center (CPC). The weather association has released new data that predicts that El Niño will peak during the winter of 2015-2016, and conditions wont return back to neutral until late spring or early summer of 2016.
The CPC’s El Nino/Southern Oscilation (ENSO) Diagnostic Discussion reports, “Most models indicate that a strong El Niño will continue through the Northern Hemisphere winter 2015-16, followed by weakening and a transition to ENSO-neutral during the late spring or early summer.”
The report also shares that forecasters are now predicting that this El Niño could rank among the top three strongest episodes going back to 1950.
As we previously reported, El Niño is a warming of a certain patch of the central Pacific that changes weather patterns worldwide, associated with flooding in some areas and droughts in others. This is the first since 2010, and has been progressively building.
Historically, El Niño events can lead to severe dry conditions in parts of Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand, while North America typically sees heavy rains. This could potentially affect agriculture for the better or worse across the globe, however forecasters say it is too early to tell exactly what the results may be.
For more on what potential affects El Niño may have on the fresh produce industry, AndNowUKnow will update you as the information is released.