CALGARY, AB - Mission Produce has announced that it has completed construction of its second Ripe Center and distribution facility in Canada, its 11th worldwide. The Ripe Center, based in Calgary, Canada, will service customers in Western Canada with year-round ripe fruit.
“Canada is a very important market for Mission, and adding the Calgary Ripe Center expands our capacity and our ability to distribute to our customer base in a timely manner,” shared Steve Barnard, President & CEO, about the facility. “This is the third Ripe Center we’ve opened this year—after opening Centers in Europe and China. We currently operate 11 Mission-owned centers around the world, and we plan to continue to grow globally.”
Mission has operated a distribution center Toronto since 2010, and the addition of the new center in Calgary allows the company to service the Western half of the country from a center that is designed to deliver to customers from Winnipeg to Vancouver.
According to Brent Scattini, Vice President of Sales and Marketing, opening the Calgary Ripe Center was a logical step in further serving the Canadian market, adding, “The Calgary facility is a natural counterpart to our Toronto facility, and gives us the ability to service customers more rapidly. By having a depot in Calgary, we can relieve some of the burden on the Toronto Ripe Center. It also allows us more ripe capacity while developing faster deliveries of both hard and ripe fruit for customers in the West. It gives us another hub and further extends our coverage of North America.”
The company, notorious for its position as a pioneer in the ripe revolution, recently opened brand new facilities in Oxnard, CA, the Netherlands, and Shanghai along with the introduction of a new ready-to-eat brand, Mr. Avocado. As leaders determined to help push the industry ahead, the new facility is no holds barred when it comes to innovation.
“It is a 40,000 square-foot, purpose-built facility that has 4 ripe rooms with a total capacity to ripen 96 pallets,” added Ben Barnard, Senior Director of Operations. “We developed the Calgary Ripe Center with our internal engineering team. It uses the latest in avocado ripening technology that is unique to Mission Produce, including advanced high-efficiency refrigeration, lighting, and control systems to minimize our energy usage. It was designed and built to meet or exceed all food safety requirements.”
Ben concluded that the Ripe Center implements new technology designed specifically for avocados.
What will Mission Produce bring to the industry next? Stay tuned with AndNowUKnow as we continue to report.
