Spain will 'romance' the product at Kingsburg
Spain will 'romance' the product at Kingsburg
Dan Spain, whose produce industry experience includes 20 years with Vons Supermarkets, was recently named vice president of sales and marketing for Kingsburg Orchards in Kingsburg, CA.
In an interview with The Produce News, Mr. Spain said that "there is a story to be told" to the trade about Kingsburg Orchards that largely has to do with the special varieties, many of them proprietary, that the company offers. Mr. Spain said that he plans to "get out in front of customers" to tell them about "what proprietary new products we have going on."
In the past, the company "sold a lot out of the office here," he said, "but we didn't have the people freed up to go and actually visit with the customers," to look at the product in the customer's warehouse "and make sure they are happy with it," and "to share stories" with them about the Jackson family that grow and packs the products.
"My forte," he said, is "to romance the product in telling the customers about it" and why it gives them "a point of difference in their marketplace" compared to their competitors, who are "not carrying our product."
Mr. Spain began his produce career in 1979 as a produce manager at Vons. Over the next 20 years, he worked with Vons in many capacities, working his way up to store manager and then category buyer. After Safeway purchased Vons, "I moved on to be the western marketing manage for California apples, cherries, pears and kiwis, and also worked with the Chilean Fresh Fruit Association," he said.
He later worked for Sunkist Growers, starting in the marketing department before being promoted to director of national accounts. Subsequently, he worked as vice president of marketing and merchandising for Fresh Fruit Logistics Inc., a subsidiary of Santiago, Chile-based Agricom.
Last fall, Mr. Spain was hired as vice president of sales and marketing at Booth Ranches LLC in Orange Cove, CA, a job that lasted only five months before a January freeze knocked out an estimated 80 percent of the California Navel orange crop, leaving Booth and many other citrus marketers with very little fruit to sell for the remainder of the season.
"It wasn't very long before I got a call" from Kingsburg Orchards, he said. When he "saw what they were doing here at Kingsburg Orchards, which is very innovative," and when he saw what "a great group of sales and management people" the family-owned company had, he concluded that it was "just a perfect scenario for me."
Kingsburg's hiring of Mr. Spain follows the departure of John Hein, who had resigned effective Jan. 8 to become a partner in Crown Jewels Marketing and to take the position of director of sales and marketing with that company. Remaining on the sales desk at Kingsburg Orchards are Charlie Hein, Bob Maxwell, Eric Maxwell, Bryan Hofer, Mike Watts, Chad Allred, Ben Vived, Kevin Watkins and Alicia Galvan.
In an interview with The Produce News, Mr. Spain said that "there is a story to be told" to the trade about Kingsburg Orchards that largely has to do with the special varieties, many of them proprietary, that the company offers. Mr. Spain said that he plans to "get out in front of customers" to tell them about "what proprietary new products we have going on."
In the past, the company "sold a lot out of the office here," he said, "but we didn't have the people freed up to go and actually visit with the customers," to look at the product in the customer's warehouse "and make sure they are happy with it," and "to share stories" with them about the Jackson family that grow and packs the products.
"My forte," he said, is "to romance the product in telling the customers about it" and why it gives them "a point of difference in their marketplace" compared to their competitors, who are "not carrying our product."
Mr. Spain began his produce career in 1979 as a produce manager at Vons. Over the next 20 years, he worked with Vons in many capacities, working his way up to store manager and then category buyer. After Safeway purchased Vons, "I moved on to be the western marketing manage for California apples, cherries, pears and kiwis, and also worked with the Chilean Fresh Fruit Association," he said.
He later worked for Sunkist Growers, starting in the marketing department before being promoted to director of national accounts. Subsequently, he worked as vice president of marketing and merchandising for Fresh Fruit Logistics Inc., a subsidiary of Santiago, Chile-based Agricom.
Last fall, Mr. Spain was hired as vice president of sales and marketing at Booth Ranches LLC in Orange Cove, CA, a job that lasted only five months before a January freeze knocked out an estimated 80 percent of the California Navel orange crop, leaving Booth and many other citrus marketers with very little fruit to sell for the remainder of the season.
"It wasn't very long before I got a call" from Kingsburg Orchards, he said. When he "saw what they were doing here at Kingsburg Orchards, which is very innovative," and when he saw what "a great group of sales and management people" the family-owned company had, he concluded that it was "just a perfect scenario for me."
Kingsburg's hiring of Mr. Spain follows the departure of John Hein, who had resigned effective Jan. 8 to become a partner in Crown Jewels Marketing and to take the position of director of sales and marketing with that company. Remaining on the sales desk at Kingsburg Orchards are Charlie Hein, Bob Maxwell, Eric Maxwell, Bryan Hofer, Mike Watts, Chad Allred, Ben Vived, Kevin Watkins and Alicia Galvan.
