Harold Weisfeld, founder of Fruit Distributing, retires after 55 years
Harold Weisfeld, founder of Fruit Distributing, retires after 55 years
Harold Weisfeld, who founded Fruit Distributing Corp. of California in 1958, has retired due to poor health and is now only coming into the office “about once a month,” according to his son Jeff Weisfeld, president of the company.
“We miss his presence and his persona here,” the younger Weisfeld said, but he was hopeful the retirement “will be good for him.”
From the company’s inception until his retirement, Harold Weisfeld, who was originally from Pharr, TX, had sold the company’s Texas citrus deal, primarily grapefruit, limes and oranges. Salesman Sean Hire “has now taken over that department, in addition to the other products that he handles, and we have been able to move on very nicely, Jeff Weisfeld said.
There are no plans, for the present, of hiring any additional people, he said. “We want to stay as we are and retain a profitability. We are just going to keep it tight and keep it as it is.”
Currently on sales, in addition to Weisfeld and Hire, is Ruben Duran. Valerie Hire is vice president and Maria Gutierrez is office clerk.
Business was good for the company in 2013, Weisfeld said. It was the company’s best year in the past five years.
“We are not to where we were before, but we are in a better position than we were the last five years,” he said.
The company, which has been located in Commerce, CA, for the last several years, is currently looking for an office in downtown Los Angeles, he said. “Commerce is just too far,” he said. A location in downtown L.A. would not only have better proximity to the Los Angeles Wholesale Produce Market and the produce district but would also be closer to some of the other “draws that downtown now has.”
Fruit Distributing has historically been involved primarily with brokering such items as tree fruit, tomatoes, bell peppers, cucumbers, potatoes and onions. The company also expanded into California citrus two years ago and has recently expanded its product line to include such items as corn, apples, pears and mangos to better meet the needs of customers, according to Weisfeld.
Representing growers and shippers from Florida to Washington State, Fruit Distributing works with processors, wholesalers, restaurant purveyors and independent retail markets, with customers throughout much of the West but largely in Southern California. Processors are “our biggest customers,” he said.
