Doug Meyer, vice president of sales and marketing of West Pak, which will celebrate 30 years in the avocado business in 2012.

West Pak Avocado Inc. in Temecula, CA, which first opened its doors in Fallbrook, CA, celebrates its 30th anniversary this year. Starting out as a modestly sized seasonal packer and marketer of California avocados, the company has grown to become a major year-round supplier of avocados, sourcing from California, Mexico, Chile and most recently Peru.

West Pak owns and operates its own packinghouses in Temecula as well as in Uruapán, Michoacán, Mexico, and has forward distribution warehouses in Edinburg, TX, Philadelphia and Chicago.

Galen Shoup, president of West Pak, and Randy Newhouse, vice president, are owners and co-founders. Three members of the second generation are now in the business as well. Mr. Shoup’s son Heath is in sales. Mr. Newhouse’s son Trevor is in marketing and IT, and his son Kellen works on the operations side.

In its California program, West Pak works with a large base of independent growers, both in the southern and northern growing districts, in addition to having its own avocado groves, according to Doug Meyer, vice president of sales and marketing.

Coming into the new crop of California avocados in the year of West Pak’s 30th anniversary “is an exciting time for us,” he said in an interview with The Produce News Feb. 29. “It is a special time for us,” because even though the company now sources globally, “our roots are here in California.” When the company was launched, Chilean and Mexican fruit were not in the marketplace and would not be for many years. California avocados were a seasonal crop, and while “folks in the Western U.S. had an opportunity to experience Hass avocados seasonally, rarely did they go all the way to the East Coast in those early years.”

Hass avocado consumption in the United States has grown dramatically since then, and “our company has grown to keep ahead of the pace” with the growing demand “all the way through,” Mr. Meyer said.

The new California season is also “a special time for our valued growers,” many of which “have been working with our company from the beginning,” he said.

The California harvest was already under way. “We have been harvesting for the last four weeks, with increased volume every week coming out of the groves,” Mr. Meyer said. So far, the amounts had been quite small, with fruit being harvested largely for cultural reasons. But at the end of February, the volume picked up to marketable levels, he said.

West Pak was also marketing a sizeable volume of fruit from Chile, and Mr. Meyer expected to continue to see shipments from Chile all the way into April this year. In addition, “supply from Mexico has been very sizeable, so there is good volume available in the marketplace as we head into the California season.”

California has a substantially larger crop than last year but smaller than the year before. “We are looking at it being an average crop year for California,” Mr. Meyer said. “Crop quality looks very nice,” and the “size curve looks good. We could see the historical seasonal averages on the sizes play out this year.”

With the larger volume, “we could see the crop go longer than it did last year,” he said. “I think we will see volume into September. Certainly, the state is set for that,” although grower harvesting decisions will largely determine how long the harvest will continue.

“Peru is going to be a new player in the market this year for the full season,” he said. Peru’s start date “is a moving target, but what we are communicating to our customers is that [the first Peruvian avocados] will be here in April,” with good volume expected by May.

West Pak expected an increased market share in its California program this year, Mr. Meyer said. “We have a very strong base of growers in the south,” but “strategically, what is changing for West Pak,” is that the company is developing more growers in the northern districts. “That is allowing us to tap into more supply as we grow the company,” he said.

For the 2012 California season, West Pak has a Produce Traceability Initiative system in place, “completely integrated from the grove all the way through the packinghouse to our label on the box as it goes out,” and it is fully compliable with the industry’s PTI movement, Mr. Meyer said. “Our company was one of the early supporters of PTI” and “we met the milestones ahead of schedule.” The company has had that system in place since mid-summer last year, “both here and in Mexico, in both of our packinghouses.”

During the first half of the 2011 California season, West Pak’s PTI system was not yet fully in place, so “some of the growers we worked with in the first half of last season” were not included. “What is exciting this year, is we will be able to work with all of our growers here in California and give them a comfort level that the system is in place,” he said.