FOREST PARK, GA — This year will mark the 90th year of business for JJ Jardina, based here. “Our grandfather started JJ Jardina in 1925 and the business has grown over the years to support three generations of our family,” said Chief Executive Officer Mike Jardina. Today, three brothers, Mike, Larry and Matt, operate all facets of the company on a daily basis.

The brothers are continuing to grow the company’s product line and are focused on providing high-quality product and service to its customer base. 

“During 2014 we entered the organics business and are focusing our efforts on a line up of commodities that we feel we can do a good job with,” said Jardina.

A truck loading produce at the JJ Jardina warehouse in Forest Park, GA.Jardina’s “Georgia Grown” business is also growing very well. “We have a few very good growers in Georgia that we are aligned with to provide peaches, apples, grapes and cantaloupes,” Jardina said. 

The company continues to invest in food-safety initiatives and recognizes the importance of this in their daily operations.

“Growth for the company has been steady,” Jardina said. “We understand that the only way we can be successful long-term is to protect the things that make us different in this industry. That is, to offer a high-quality product and back it up with high levels of service and support to ensure our customers success. If our customers can’t grow and be successful then we can’t grow and be successful.”

There are several things that make Jardina a successful distributor in the Southeast for locally grown apples, cantaloupes, peaches, citrus and strawberries.

“First, we focus very specifically on fruit produce. This allows us to be very good at what we do. Second, we understand the need to take care of our shippers, which enables us to get access to the very best product available in the market. We pay our shippers quickly and we try very hard to help them when they need help moving/selling certain product. Finally, we are very nimble and responsive when our customers call on us to move product from point A to point B. Customers have come to appreciate the fact that they generally can depend on our company to be there when they are in need,” said Jardina. “Most of the other entities in this industry offer both vegetable and fruit.  Our buying power goes directly to fruit.”

JJ Jardina serves the high-end grocery chains, the mainstream grocery chains and the medium to small market customers. “Our focus on fruit product allows us to provide unique solutions to each customer,” said Jardina. “Some may be looking for a very high-end premium product, while others may be looking for a low-grade fancy product. Some may look for a very large size fruit, others may look for the small fruit. We are generally positioned to provide it all.” 

That also includes top-of-the-line food safety. Jardina said the regulatory side of the business is becoming very rigorous in terms of food-safety requirements. The company gets audited every year and has to demonstrate its commitment to this facet of the business. The company is currently certified Primus GMP, OCIA Organic, and HACCP.