ISSAQUAH, WA - As companies across this industry experience massive operational growth, so too must the teams of skillful produce players that make it possible. Vanguard International has added two talented new industry pros to its team, as it recently announced the hiring of Ignacio Ugarte in Chile and Fanny Robles in Peru.
Ugarte is an Agronomist with years of experience in the produce industry, holding roles such as Quality Controller with Decofrut, as well as the Operations Manager at Aconex USA and Sun Valley. Ugarte has also had a tenure with a Chilean produce platform based in Bangkok, Thailand, according to a press release, and for the last five years has held the role of Procurement Manager in Chile and South America with Aozora New Zealand.
As he takes on his new position, Ugarte will be based in Vanguard’s Santiago, Chile, office.
“We have been lucky to know of and follow along with Ignacio’s career trajectory for many years,” shared Juan Luis Obach, Manager, Vanguard Chile, “and we are excited to add his skill set to the Vanguard team to support our business growth, particularly in the Chilean and South American markets.”
Fanny Robles will also be integrating into the team over the coming months.
Robles also joins the Vanguard team with valuable expertise, serving as an Agro-Industrial Engineer with an MBA in International Management. For the past nine years, Robles served as a Commercial Manager at Ecosac in Piura, Peru. During her tenure, she has gained immense experience in packing operations, quality control, procurement, and sales.
Robles will officially join the team on May 10, and will be based in Ica, Peru, close to Vanguard Peru’s packing operations, ranches, and cold storage facilities.
“We have been very impressed with Fanny’s track record while at Ecosac and have worked with her for years, as Ecosac is one of our most important Peruvian suppliers,” Obach said. “We are confident that her experience and personal skills will support our operations, particularly with our Peruvian growers and suppliers.”
Congratulations to both of these talented individuals as they embark on a new path in their fresh produce careers!
IRVINGTON, NY - Growers are constantly harnessing innovation to spearhead monumental expansions, and BrightFarms is no different, as the greenhouse grower has recently announced the opening of its newest indoor farm in Hendersonville, North Carolina.
“With 10 years of innovation and growing under our belts, we are ready and able to bring our proven indoor growing model and fresh greens to millions of new consumers in the Carolinas and beyond,” said Steve Platt, CEO. “We are committed to being the leading supplier of local salads in the Southeast and look forward to partnering with retailers to make fresh, clean and safe produce a reality."
Doubling down on BrightFarms’ mission to make higher quality, safe produce available to more people across the country, the new six-acre greenhouse will produce 2 million pounds of lettuce per year for the Southeast region, which is enough to feed millions of new consumers, a press release explained.
The new facility is centrally located to allow quick delivery to retailers across the Southeast, including those in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. With this prime location, BrightFarms’ freshly harvested greens have to travel a much shorter distance than lettuce grown conventionally on the West Coast, as it arrives at supermarkets in as little as 24 hours.
The new state-of-the-art North Carolina greenhouse will employ more than 55 “green-collar” staff, all trained to operate the cutting-edge greenhouse technology within the facility, and is just the first step in the supplier’s robust expansion plans.
In addition to this facility, BrightFarms currently operates greenhouses in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Illinois, and Virgina, and has revealed plans to open another in New England later this year. As it enacts this ambitious expansion, the grower has its sights set on doubling in size and production and expanding its footprint to over 3,500 retail stores in the U.S. in 2021.
If you want to tune in for the opening celebration, which will provide viewers with an exclusive look at the new, high-tech facility as well as several esteemed keynote speakers, click here to register.
And, as always, keep reading ANUK as we report on all the latest expansions and innovations within the fresh produce industry.
NEW YORK - There is strength to be found in both experience and diversity, and The GIANT Company seems to be of the same mindset. The retailer recently announced that it would be joining TONE Networks, an enterprise solution supporting the professional and personal development of female employees, to provide its team members with access to the company’s cutting-edge development platform. The content will be available via GIANT’s new learning platform, GIANT University, which was designed to help associates build their careers and grow.
“We support each of our team members fully and uniquely, including encouraging each other to learn and grow through new opportunities,” said Rebecca Lupfer, Vice President Center Store, The GIANT Company, and Executive Sponsor of the company’s women’s networking group. “TONE Networks is a great complement to our own training and workforce development resources, enabling our team members to focus on specific topics that are of interest and importance to them.”
TONE Networks offers a unique online, virtual video resource for women looking to learn and grow both professionally and personally. According to a press release, the platform includes live stream events and an extensive library of more than 1200 micro videos featuring advice and guidance from credentialed experts.
As women have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic, TONE Network will help retain female employees while providing key opportunities for growth through expert-driven content. Role-modeling, and mentoring on a scalable level.
“Women have multiple responsibilities, so finding time to invest in themselves often falls off their ‘To Do’ list,” said Gemma Toner, Founder and CEO of TONE Networks. “Our virtual micro-learning platform provides easily consumed content for women who want to get support and learn and grow continuously. Women have limited time to dedicate to their own development. TONE’s content provides timely, insightful information, as well as focused takeaways that are easily applied to daily life.”
Through its platform, TONE offers expert-led virtual TONE Talks, hour-long live streamed coaching events on a range of topics that are relevant to women and their careers. Additionally, the TONE platform allows corporate partners to host private live streaming events for employees across global locations to help foster community.
How will this new partnership between GIANT and TONE promote inclusion and growth throughout the company? AndNowUKnow will continue to bring you the latest.
BOSTON, MA and SAN MARCOS, CA - Tive has made pivotal headway again in its mission to improve supply chain visibility and efficiency. This time, the solutions provider has announced a partnership with Everstream Analytics, a supply chain risk analytics company. Together, the two companies will combine their expertise to further reduce food loss and waste, optimize on-time and in-full performance, and increase collaboration between carriers and shippers.
“Ongoing global supply chain disruptions have caused our clients to become very focused on predicting and mitigating shipment delays and damage,” added Krenar Komoni, CEO and Founder, Tive. “Everstream Analytics has a unique ability to predictively score risk at the shipment level while monitoring disruptive events globally, and this compliments Tive’s strengths. This partnership will enhance how we currently help our clients eliminate in-transit delays and damage.”
This new partnership will be of particular interest to companies that ship temperature-sensitive products such as perishables, as Everstream’s machine learning analyzes billions of data points each day to predict the temperature for every 10 miles on a route up to two weeks in advance of shipment departure.
According to a press release, this ensures proper equipment is used while reducing transportation costs and guaranteeing shipment quality.
“We have been impressed with Tive’s approach to addressing the complex needs for delivering real-time, multi-modal visibility through cutting-edge in-cargo trackers,” said David Shillingford, CEO, Everstream Analytics. “Tive delivers global GPS and cellular connectivity, real-time monitoring, and exceptional battery life at a price that enables single-use, which changes the game in the Real Time Transportation Visibility Platform (RTTVP) market. We see growing demand for this level of visibility, particularly for high-value and temperature-sensitive cargo around intramodal choke points. Our clients’ concerns over safety and environmental impact are also now addressed through Tive’s release of the world’s first non-Lithium 5G tracker.”
Brought together with Tive’s hyper-accurate location data and condition insights on temperature, shock, light, exposure, and humidity, customers will be able to experience a significant increase in their on-time and in-full shipments.
As Tive continues to move at lightening speed to improve supply chain operations, AndNowUKnow will keep you updated on the latest advancements.
BUFFALO GROVE, IL - It is a beautiful thing to see fresh produce at the center of culinary creation. Aiming to elevate fresh fruits and vegetables at foodservice, Produce Alliance has kicked off a local partnership between east coast restaurant group Legal Sea Foods and the Boston-based hydroponic grower, Little Leaf Farms. With the grower’s lettuce, known for its signature “curl” and fresh, crispy flavor, Legal Sea Foods continues its longstanding commitment to quality and freshness.
“From protein to produce, sourcing local ingredients for our dishes has always been hugely important to Legal Sea Foods. We’re proud to support a fellow New England-based business committed to outstanding quality by partnering with Little Leaf Farms for our lettuce needs,” said Matt King, Chief Culinary Officer at PPX Hospitality Brands, the parent company of Legal Sea Foods.
Legal Sea Foods features greens from Little Leaf Farms in dishes such as its House Salad, Classic Caesar Salad, and in the Fennel Apple Salad accompaniment to its Signature Crab Cake starter. Now staple ingredients on the Legal Sea Foods menu, the lettuce provides a flavorful and crisp base to each blended salad. From its adherence to a pier-to-plate process for sourcing seafood to choosing a produce purveyor with sustainable growing practices, Legal Sea Foods continues to demonstrate a deep dedication to providing guests with the freshest meals possible.
Little Leaf Farms’ signature lettuce is sustainable, pesticide-free, and travels fewer than 80 miles to the restaurant within 24 hours of being harvested, a press release said. Due to the minimized travel time and controlled growing environment, the greens stay fresh for two or more weeks when properly refrigerated. Little Leaf Farms’ greenhouse is fully automated, and its lettuce never encounters human hands during the growing and harvesting process. The supplier recently completed the third phase of its 10-acre glass structure in 2020 and primarily relies on natural sunlight supplemented by efficient LED growing lights.
“Little Leaf Farms is thrilled to partner with Legal Sea Foods and become their official local lettuce supplier. As a Massachusetts-based company, we believe we are a perfect fit for their vision to procure local produce. We’re proud that our innovative approach allows us to supply restaurants like Legal Sea Foods with fresh, clean, and crispy greens and we can’t wait for their customers to try our lettuce!” said Chris Sellew, Sales Manager at Little Leaf Farms.
Produce Alliance is excited to share the news about this relationship as it continues to grow into different state-of-the-art spaces like hydroponic farming. The organization has been expanding its offerings to simplify its clients’ produce and foodservice management while reducing the carbon footprint.
Stay tuned for more opportunities to bring produce to the center of the plate.
NEW ZEALAND - Green bananas may traditionally be a sign of unripeness, but in one recently launched produce partnership, it simply means the fruit is powered by sustainability. T&G Fresh, which is the domestic division of T&G Global, has partnered with All Good to deliver Fairtrade and Zero Carbon certified bananas in New Zealand.
“As part of our Kaitiakitanga commitment, we’re focused on building a healthier planet by protecting and nurturing the natural environment, and taking positive climate action is part of this,” said Managing Director Andrew Keaney. “Together our team has worked alongside All Good, Agrofair, and our Ecuadorian growers, as well as utilising our global connections to find a solution to offset the carbon footprint of every All Good banana. It’s a huge effort to get to this point and it’s the result of years of hard work.”
Every All Good banana is now carbon neutral certified by EKOS and off-set in a permanent forest protection project in the Peruvian Andes close to the Fairtrade farms in El Guabo, Ecuador, where All Good Bananas are grown.
The project protects the Amazonian Rainforest from road and agricultural development, with significant benefits to the indigenous people. As stated in a press release, it is aligned to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and certified to the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS).
“As bananas are the most popular of all Kiwi grocery items, we know the potential this has to make a massive change in our industry,” Keaney continued.
Since 2015, T&G Fresh has held an exclusive sales and distribution partnership with All Good, enabling All Good to reach more customers throughout New Zealand by utilising T&G Fresh’s well-established national transport network, strategic ripening, and market locations.
Introduce your shoppers to a new kind of green banana. It may be just the tool you need to expand basket share in the produce aisle.
ONTARIO, CANADA - Red Sun Farms touts a strong track record of excellence in terms of its workforce. The greenhouse grower continues to gain recognition across the sector, and for the eighth consecutive year in a row, was named one of Canada’s Best Managed Companies. This recognition gives Red Sun the prestigious Platinum Club Status.
“This recognition is a reflection of our core values and dedication as an organization,” said Red Sun Farms CEO of USA and Canada Operations Carlos Visconti. “In a year full of uncertainty and challenges, the Red Sun family stayed true to our values and commitments in all aspects of our operations. This recognition reaffirms our position as a leader in the produce industry.”
A press release explained that recipients are evaluated by overall business performance and sustained growth with the prestigious Canada’s Best Managed Companies designation. The award winners are amongst the best-in-class of Canadian-owned and managed companies with revenues over $15 million demonstrating strategy, capability, and commitment to achieve sustainable growth.
Now in its 27th year, Canada’s Best Managed Companies is one of the country’s leading business award programs recognizing Canadian-owned and managed companies for innovative, world-class business practices. Every year, hundreds of entrepreneurial companies compete for this designation in a rigorous and independent process that evaluates the calibre of their management abilities and practices.
“To become a Best Managed Platinum Club winner is nothing short of remarkable. Their continued adaptability in an era of uncertainty sets the standard for how to overcome new barriers and demonstrate resilience at the highest levels,” said Kari Lockhart, Partner, Deloitte Private and Co-Leader, Canada’s Best Managed Companies program. “This year’s Platinum Club winners are the Canadian cornerstone for outstanding business in 2021.”
We offer enthusiastic congrats to Red Sun on this recognition!
SAN FRANCISCO, CA - Another exciting acquisition has been announced today, as GrubMarket revealed that it has acquired the highly regarded produce provider Vaccaro & Sons in St. Louis, Missouri.
"Vaccaro & Sons is known in the St. Louis area for its commitment to quality and exceptional service,” said GrubMarket CEO Mike Xu. “The team is a true value-added partner who brings creative solutions to customers and producers. This acquisition puts GrubMarket on a path to further expand to the vital food supply chain corridor of the Midwest. We are motivated to leverage our network and software technology to support the food supply chain ecosystem of the Midwest and explore new ways of creating opportunities for the heartland. We are excited to welcome the Vaccaro & Sons team to the GrubMarket family as we further strengthen our position across the country. Together, we will build a greater customer base and a stronger producer network in the food ecosystem nationwide."
As a result of the acquisition, Vaccaro & Sons will now be able to optimize GrubMarket’s innovative, proprietary WholesaleWare software suite, which provides food industry suppliers and vendors with seamless financial management, precise inventory management, user-friendly online ordering and sales, and engaging CRM tools, according to a press release.
"We are excited to join the GrubMarket network and welcome the new growth opportunities that GrubMarket's technology and platform bring,” said Dale Vaccaro, CEO of Vaccaro & Sons. “We are constantly striving for the best customer service and committed to meet the varied needs of all our customers. We are thrilled to learn that GrubMarket shares this same mission of supporting growers and serving customers with the highest standard. We sincerely look forward to joining the GrubMarket Team and taking Vaccaro & Sons to the next level of success."
Vaccaro & Sons is a key sourcing channel for high quality fresh produce, known for its premium quality and service. During the start of the pandemic last year, Vaccaro & Sons saw immense growth, providing essential food delivery services to communities and businesses throughout the St. Louis area. Further accelerating its market expansion, the supplier acquired Adolph & Ceresia Produce Co. in January.
Following the acquisition by GrubMarket, Vaccaro & Sons will continue to be managed by its current leadership team, Dale Vaccaro, Dean Vaccaro, and Rick Massey.
With another pivotal acquisition under its belt, what growth will we see from this wholesaler next? AndNowUKnow will surely report.
MILLEN, GA - While virtual classrooms have become the new norm, the knowledge and experience we absorb today is still as important as ever. The Southeast Produce Council (SEPC) held its first STEP-UPP Virtual Classroom in the SEPC Virtual Garden this past Wednesday.
“Our first Virtual Classroom day was a huge hit with this year’s class,” said Mike Roberts, Director of Produce Operations for Harps Food Stores. “I cannot say enough how great the content was that the selected companies provided. What was even better was the engagement the class had with each presenter and the hard questions they asked! I think this new session within the SEPC Virtual Garden was another great platform that the SEPC and STEP-UPP can add to educate and invest in the future leaders of our great industry."
STEP-UPP, which stands for Southeast Training Education Program for Upcoming Produce Professionals, is SEPC’s flagship program which provides retail and foodservice professionals a better understanding of the industry via strategic orientation and hands-on experience.
The virtual session, which took place from 9am until after 3pm, began with a welcome by STEP-UPP Committee Co-Chairs Mike Roberts of Harps Food Stores and Gary Baker of Merchants Distributors, according to a press release, followed by a series of virtual farm and facility tours by industry leaders such as Shenandoah Growers, Shuman Farms, Southern Valley, Fowler Packing, Giumarra Companies, and Chelan Fresh. Following a lunch break, the session then resumed with an informative segment by Adam Lytch of L&M Family of Companies, and culminated with a testing period during which the 10 participating class members answered a series of questions drawn from the virtual tours.
“The SEPC’s first Virtual Classroom was a great experience and day for our STEP-UPP class! I thought it was a great way for these produce professionals to gain knowledge and communicate with our vendor community who gave great presentations,” explained Gary Baker, Senior Director of Fresh at Merchants Distributors. “The level of engagement from each student was a true testament on why these students were selected as members of STEP-UPP. I truly enjoyed the day and look forward to continuing to use this format in the future for other classes.”
The graduation ceremony for the STEP-UPP Class of 2021 will take place at Southern Innovations on September 10 in Savannah, Georgia.
AndNowUKnow will continue to report on all things related to fresh produce, so be sure to keep clicking back.
SEATTLE, WA - Another crucial advantage is emerging in the world of fresh produce, this time in terms of packaging, as RipeLocker announced it has received $5 million in series B funding to continue its work in extending the post-harvest life of perishables.
“Over the past few years, we have been actively working with some of the largest growers in the world to test our RipeLocker containers,” said Founder and CEO George Lobisser. “We are the only company with the data as to how perishables respond under low-pressure vacuum over long periods of time to delay senescence (aging) and decay. This infusion of significant new capital enables us to leverage this data, begin manufacturing the commercial product, and scale the company to meet the increasing demand from global and national produce and flower growers.”
The new funds will go toward enhancing the company’s RipeLocker containers, utilizing the precise operating data the company has accumulated after years of trials, and manufacturing the containers for commercial availability for select clients this summer, according to a press release.
RipeLocker’s patented, low-atmosphere containers are pallet-size, made from recycled materials, reusable, and made to extend the post-harvest life of fresh produce and flowers by weeks. RipeLocker has already completed efficacy trials across several high-value categories such as berries, pomegranates, cherries, and papayas.
RipeLocker containers utilize a unique system to precisely manage the atmosphere within the containers to extend the life of perishables, controlling oxygen, pressure, CO2, and humidity levels. Each of these operating parameters are specifically tailored to meet the needs of each type of fresh produce or flower kept within the container. The system also makes precise adjustments to respond to changes in the storage or shipping environment in order to reduce decay and prevent damage.
What will this exciting innovation mean for suppliers moving forward? As always, keep reading ANUK as we keep our eye on the newswire.