Mexico is yearning for strawberries and CBS Farms, which handles strawberry sales for Colleen Strawberries Inc. and Beach Street Farms LLC, plans on filling the void.

“We are expanding this next season for the fall/winter season in Mexico and will have additional acreage there,” said Charlie Staka, director of sales for CBS Farms. “Now was the right time because we are seeing strong demand in the fall and winter months of late. We’ve been doing the deal for about six years and haven’t done a lot of growth in acreage in the past and thought it was the right time.”

Staka said CBS Farms, based in Watsonville, CA., prides itself on a rigid quality control process and food safety practices.

“Success comes down to having the right partial of land, the right grower to get good yields and strong production,” he said. “On top of that, you need to show your customers the advantage of your program for them.”

That’s something that the company has never had a problem doing, as it consistently makes refinements and innovations to its processes, trying new varieties and techniques to improve product.

CBS Farms grows its berries in the prime regions of California’s Central coast, beginning the season in Oxnard, then moving north to Santa Maria and Watsonville. In the winter it grows in Zamora, Mexico and ships from McAllen, Texas, ensuring year-round supplies.

“We’re in the summer months right now, and sales tend to get sluggish,” Staka said. “Business for the year has been kind of sluggish overall. It had some good demand time, but periods like May, which is usually a big demand month, we didn’t find it to be that way this year at all.”

Even its organic program, which CBS Farms has been expanding in recent years, did not do as well as hoped.

While CBS Farms offers a full array of packs and sizes in conventional and organic fruit, as well as custom packs according to its customers’ needs, Staka said he has seen a rise in 2-pounders over the past year and the company is making changes to fulfill customers’ wishes.

Behind the scenes, CBS Farms welcomed industry vet Brad Peterson to the fold as a salesman, and he’s helped better position the company.

“We’re trying to continue to grow,” Staka said. “We take pride in the extra lengths we take at every step to ensure the berries that leave our facility are at the optimum quality possible.”