Rene Produce, LLC believes in consistent market presence
Rene Produce, LLC believes in consistent market presence
rio rico, az — “We are coming off a really good season,” said Jaime (James) Hernandez, the sales manager of Rene Produce, LLC.
Hernandez said Rene’s philosophy trends toward keeping consistent, stable offerings. While there are minor shifts in acreage utilization, Rene has an equal amount of land in production planned for 2016-17 as a year ago.
TOVs are an item that is being dropped from Rene’s program this year simply because “they were not making money. We concentrate on what makes money.”
At the Rio Rico office of Rene Produce is the firm’s sales staff of Kiko Moreno, Jaime Hernandez and Juan Medina.Rene’s shipments this fall began with a small-volume October Roma tomato deal out of Jalisco. The firm’s winter production is from farms in northern, central and southern Sinaloa.
In November, the firm was building its volume with eggplant cucumbers, bell peppers and Euro-cukes.
In the spring, Rene will have another small deal from Jalisco.
Two years ago Rene started packing two-pound Roma bags and a one-pound grab-and-go Roma. These products “are picking up steam,” Hernandez said.
Rene ships throughout the United States and Canada from Nogales and a McAllen cross-dock facility. The firm also has a strong domestic sales program.
Rene ships to retailers, foodservice operators and terminal market customers.
Despite the presence of strong programs in food safety, social responsibility and non-GMOS, a year ago, Rene Produce was among several grower-distributed singed by a Los Angeles Times article reporting a bad record in social responsibility. “After the LA Times article, we sent people down — including big retailers —because we wanted to assure them that the LA Times article was false. We passed in flying colors,” said Hernandez.
“We are ahead of the curve in the way we treat our workers,” he continued.
“We have housing, health and dental, and schools for children, and in the afternoon, we have school for parents. We have our own ambulance station. We are beyond the curve.”
