“The New York Produce Show is great for not only meeting and greeting buyers, but I love how many produce department folks attend,” said Mary Ostlund, marketing director for Brooks Tropicals, LLC, headquartered in Homestead, FL. It’s great talking to them, getting their feedback and perhaps making suggestions for their work.”

The company will be exhibiting at the NYPS, being held on Dec. 10-12 at Pier 94 in New York City. Executive, sales and marketing staff will be on hand to meet with visitors.

“I think the timing of the show is just right,” said Ostlund. “It’s just a touch before the holiday season, and just long enough after the PMA Fresh Summit to not be exhausting.”

At the NYPS, Brooks Tropicals will be promoting the company’s solutions for the rapidly growing category of tropical fruits and vegetables.

“Our specialties include Caribbean Red papayas, ‘SlimCado’ avocados, Persian limes, Florida starfruit, Uniq Fruit and more,” said Ostlund.

“And we’ll be highlighting our solid record in food safety since day one, with audits for over seven years,” Ostlund continued. “The majority of what we sell we grow with food-safety audited fields and crews. Our packing and shipping facilities are also food-safety audited. We grow our ‘SlimCado’ avocados in Southern Miami-Dade County, our Caribbean Red papayas in Belize and our starfruit on the west coast of Florida.”

Brooks Tropicals is approaching its 85th year in business, and it’s growing stronger all the time. Charlie Brooks turned to his hobby of growing avocados when the Florida real estate bubble burst in the 1920s. He sold Cuban avocados brought to South Florida by ferry and shipped by rail to the company. Soon he was growing grapefruit, mangos and avocados in the Redlands of Florida. His son, Dick, joined him after college.

To expand Brooks’ reach into lucrative Northeast markets, Dick personally rode a refrigerated truck filled with avocadoes north to prove that his Florida fruit could make it fresh to that region’s dinner tables. Soon, northerners grew to love the sweet taste of Florida avocados, enabling the Brooks’ family to tweak and expand its agricultural focus.

In the 1960s, Neal “Pal” Brooks, Dick’s son, followed in his father’s and grandfather’s footsteps and joined the company after college. The company has since expanded across the board in planting more acres and managing and packing for its growing-partners.

“Tropical products are really beginning to hit their stride with lots of potential growth still remaining behind these items and demand pushing the growth forward,” said Ostlund. “North Americans are looking for ways to eat more fruits and vegetables. Tropicals may be considered the frontier of the produce section now, but many are staking their claims to the great flavor and tastes that tropicals provide.”

Today, Brooks Tropicals is known as a leading North America tropical fruit and vegetable specialist.

To maintain its reputation for quality tropical produce, the company continually and solidly invests in research and development. This has been essential in producing several revolutionary achievements over the past thirty years that help bring tropical produce to the market in top condition for the enjoyment of North American consumers.

“We distribute across the U.S. and Canada today,” said Ostlund. “Our primary focus is on retailers and wholesalers, but foodservice operators and processors are growing categories for us as the demand for tropical fruits and vegetables is growing tremendously in all of these categories.”