Within 18 months of its opening, Colorado-based Paradigm Fresh has seen not only expansion of its sales staff at the Fort Collins office but also the opening of a distribution center in Denver and a branch office in Michigan.

The company will celebrate with a grand opening of its Denver warehouse on Friday, March 25, according to company owner John Harris.Jon Meyer, the new Paradigm Fresh onion specialist, and his wife, Katie.

Harris founded Paradigm Fresh in October 2014 as a brokerage that specializes in onions, potatoes and tomatoes, and also handles cucumbers and Bell peppers. He launched the logistics division in June 2015, and Jon Meyer, with 10 years’ produce sales with Bosgraaf Sales Co. in Hudsonville, MI, joined the Paradigm Fresh team at the branch office in early 2016.

Prior to starting Paradigm, Harris and business partner Shawn Barris founded Rocky Mountain Produce Group in Windsor, CO, in 2009. In the fall of 2014, Harris sold his 50 percent of the business to Barris. Paradigm was founded soon after.

“When I made the move out of Rocky Mountain Produce Group, I knew this was the direction I was headed in,” Harris said. “My ex-business partner Shawn and I had a very good relationship with each other. Though the split was difficult at the time for both of us, I knew that it was the right decision for me and the long-term goals that I had for myself.”

Harris continued, “Although Paradigm Fresh is relatively new to the industry, my customer base and my relationships with the growers and packers have a lot of history, which allowed for a very seamless transition.”

And he said, “I knew before I left Rocky Mountain that I’d probably start Paradigm Fresh Logistics, so that was just a matter of making the leap from paper to reality.”

In terms of the staff Harris has at Paradigm, he said, “I have been very fortunate to have hired some very smart and capable people and through them, our warehouse dream was finally born. Travis Bain, our COO, was instrumental in creating a business plan that allowed this all to become a reality. He has spent an enormous number of hours making us operational.”

The project was, Harris said, “massive.” He noted, “It’s a very expensive thing to start from scratch. Even as much as we were prepared for, it was a massive project. We are happy to say that we are finally at full strength, and ready to really make an immediate impact on the Front Range market.”

He noted, “We probably have around 15 truckloads of onions per week the move through the warehouse during the storage crop deal and likely only a couple per week during the height of the fresh crop season. These onions spread out all over the eastern half of the U.S. With regard to hothouse items, we will be distributing locally, somewhere in the neighborhood of about 40 truckloads per week.”

Harris added, “We move about 15 loads of onions per week through the warehouse and 65-plus total loads of onions each week as a company.”

More expansion could come soon, he said. “I do see plans in our immediate future to begin repacking onions, which should expand our capabilities even further and offer even more options for expanding our customer base.”

Harris said, “We’ll continue to add to our sales team anytime we find someone that we think adds value to our staff. I do expect to add to our truck fleet over the next 18 months, but that will be very much tied to our sales growth. In terms of revenue, we are expecting 160 percent growth from 2015 to 2016.”