PASCO, WA and ELKTON, FL - Easterday Farms, a Washington-based onion and potato grower, is looking to expand its Southeastern footprint. With the opening of a new 48,000-square-foot repacking and cross-docking facility in Elkton, Florida, the company is now touting improved service to its Florida customers. To discuss the exciting new development, I connected with John Ellersick, Florida Operations and Sales Manager.
“Out of this new facility we now specialize in same-day or next-day deliveries to our customers in the greater Florida and southeast regions,” John explains. “With the strategic placement of the facility on right off the I-95 corridor we also have the ability to ship product to the Jacksonville port in one hour and the port of Miami in four hours. Providing a short ship location to the ports will be a large advantage for our international customers.”
The results of this strategic planning? Improved product quality and freshness to the end user. In addition, John tells me that the facility boasts the latest in advanced packing technology available. This feature allows the company to meet customer's quantity, quality, and packaging specifications; effectively accommodating all industry standard retail and foodservice packaging.
“We are excited to have the capability to better serve our southeast customers by offering repacking, quality control, and same-day deliveries out of our Florida facility,” John adds. “We are proud of the fresh products we grow in Washington state, and wish to provide the same caliber of quality and integrity to all of our customers both domestic and international."
Also within the new facility is 9,600-square-foot cold storage room, with the ability to hold over 1,400 plastic bins. The company boasts the ability to quality check all onions and potatoes that pass through, in order to provide the highest quality product to customers.
“With the opening of this new facility, we are now able to offer our Washington-grown, farm fresh onions and potatoes from our Southeast location,” John tells me. “We endeavor to offer fresh produce in excellent condition and accommodate accounts of all sizes, from the smallest retailers, foodservice, to the largest regional chains.”
On top of improved service to its existing customers, the company has plans to use the facility as a launchpad for future growth. Looking to the horizon, John explains that Easterday looks forward to expanding its customer base.
What is next in the expansion of fresh produce distribution? Stay tuned with AndNowUKnow for the latest!
