RIVERSIDE, CA - Between high demand, expansion plans, Mother Nature, and more, there’s never a dull moment for avocados, as some of GreenFruit’s team recently shared with me.
The latest in the works is the opening of a new cold storage and ripening facility, which adds 25,000-square-feet of state-of-the-art operations to its sister company, Fruitripe’s, portfolio.
“We are extremely excited to announce the opening of our sister company Fruitripe’s cold storage and ripening facility in Riverside, California,” Dan Acevedo, Business Development Director for GreenFruit, tells me. “Fruitripe has an experienced and passionate team that offers GreenFruit the ability to ensure high-quality ripening to support our conditioned programs.”
Offering the latest possible as far as both technology and food safety capabilities, this new building offers expanded efforts and a chance for Fruitripe to greater establish itself in the market.
Fruitripe, Dan explains, operates high-pressure forced air cooling and utilizes the latest ripening technology, paired with its ripening manager’s 22 years of experience, to guarantee its customers’ specifications.
“We made it very clear from the beginning that ripening technology, which is important, adhere to food safety latest initiatives such as FSMA,” Bobby Macias, Operations Manager at Fruitripe, tells me, explaining that the company had all employees take a general course in food. “Anyone who works here has food safety essential knowledge. It’s ingrained in our central atmosphere.”
Bobby explains that Fruitripe’s vision is centered around being the leader in value-added services, adhering to the highest food safety standards. Being ahead of the curve of all food safety initiatives, he explains, such as Primus GSF (in which Fruitripe scored a 98 percent) is very important to the team.
“At Fruitripe we value our customers and spotlight our purpose to achieve superior performance each and every time. As a top-tier service provider, we are proud of our company culture and constantly strive for perfection,” Bobby shares.
Strategically located to service customers in the western region, the new Riverside facility is easily acceptable to Walmart and Sprouts Farmers Markets in the area, as well as Stater Brothers and a number of the larger Hispanic grocery chains in Southern California.
“Fruitripe’s mission is to assist companies that want to streamline and expand this business within the value-added service sector,” Bobby comments. “Research and development is important. We are constantly seeking innovation with the focus on improving our systems and processes. This will allow our clients the latest access to the most current and efficient service solutions.”
Services he counts among this include:
- Advanced Ripening Technology
- Quality Management
- Traceable Cold Storage - Precooling
- Fruit Re-grading/Re-packing
- Logistic Solutions
“The way our philosophy at GreenFruit and Fruitripe is that we appreciate and value the opportunity to work with our customers,” Dan breaks down, summarizing all that the team member do to offer the best product they can. “No matter what level we are in the company, everyone has that appreciation for foodservice and working with the customers. This is the first of many phases as we continue to grow and extend our footprint nationally.”
When I ask about what is driving this growth, the avocados themselves, Dan is happy to share this fruit demand isn’t going anywhere.
“There is a passion for avocados, and we are looking to fill that passion,” he assures me. “That passion resonates within both our companies.”
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