In 1999, six produce professionals who had a vision for a Southeastern-based produce organization formed the Southeast Produce Council. The first formal meeting of SEPC was held in Charlotte, NC, drawing 100 produce professionals from across all areas of the industry.

In 2002, it held its inaugural official trade show, now called Southern Exposure.

Princeton, FL-based New Limeco LLC was represented at that event by Doria Blonder, sales and marketing director for the company.

“I covered our booth by myself for the first two years,” said Blonder. “As the show increased in size and the number of attendees, our entire sales team was needed at the show.”

At the 2018 Southern Exposure, New Limeco will be at Booth No. 121, once again with its sales and marketing team. Tayra Wilson, the company’s newest sales team member will be experiencing her first Southern Exposure this year. Also at the company’s booth will be Eddie Caram, general manager of the company.

“We continue to promote our Powerful Harvest label, which we launched three years ago,” explained Blonder. “It encompasses our Florida avocados, guava, papayas and coconuts. These items are all Non-GMO Project Verified, of which we are proud. And they were all chosen for our Powerful Harvest label because of their head to toe, inside to outside, whole health benefits.”

She added that the four items are great for digestion, heart, cholesterol levels, skin, hair and are known for their anti-cancer properties.

“We have also added many new items to our tropical line in the last six months,” Blonder pointed out. “They include cachucha peppers, sour oranges, habaneros, apio, cilantro, sweet limes, Thai red chilis and sugar cane.”

Blonder serves on the marketing committee for SEPC. She said the programs and events are phenomenal.

“A lot of work, thought and volunteer time goes into everything the SEPC does, and its shows in every event they do,” she added.

New Limeco is a Bronze sponsor of SEPC. Bonder said that Southern Exposure is the company’s favorite annual show.

“This event has evolved into something we begin planning for the day after the current year’s event ends,” she said. “The turnout at the show is amazing. It’s great for networking, customer visits, meeting new growers and prospective customers and so much more.”

New Limeco team members also enjoy participating in the gala, and they find that the expo the following day is just an extension of the fun event.

Caram explained some of the ongoing improvements and updates the company has undergone in recent times.

“We have expanded our cooler to increase our capacity for cold storage by 30 percent,” he said. “This is in preparation for the anticipated volume of an additional 350-acres of Florida green skin avocados.

“Also this year, we completely revamped our inventory management and accounting systems to accommodate the latest technology supporting traceability by installing Tracksuite II for our inventory management system,” continued Caram. “This system provides New Limeco with the ability for case level traceabilty from field to fork. We are working with the latest EDI technology to be compliant with Advance Shipment Notice, which is becoming a necessity for fresh produce suppliers in order to meet the demands of the current marketplace.”

Blonder added that every year New Limeco increases its Florida crops by adding new growers, items and imports by 10 to 20 percent. Powerful Harvest, combined with all the additional products it carries, increase its movement yearly.

“With more and more people trying new things, and more consumers becoming health conscious, we are always increasing sales,” she said. “This enables us to devote more time, money and energy into consumer promotions about the benefits of what we believe is using the FARMACY, instead of the pharmacy.”