ATLANTA -- Cookie Monster, the lovable Sesame Street character who got his name from his propensity to devour cookies in a frenzy after proclaiming "Me love cookies," made a guest appearance at the Sunkist Growers booth during the Produce Marketing Association international convention and exposition, here, Nov. 7.

He may never be the same.

The Produce Marketing Association's new chairman of the board, Janet Erickson, announced the creation of the Nucci Scholarship for Culinary Innovation during the closing general session of PMA's 2005 Fresh Summit International Convention & Exposition in Atlanta.

The scholarship honors Joe Nucci and his significant contributions to produce innovation in foodservice. Mr. Nucci, who died in July, was the president of Mann Packing Co. in Salinas, CA. He would have become PMA's chairman-elect at the convention.

EXTON, PA -- For his company, POM Wonderful LLC in Los Angeles, the category of fresh pomegranates and bottled pomegranate juices has grown by a factor of 10 in four years, according to Kurt Vetter, vice president of sales.

Andy Bruno grew up in the produce industry and in some ways he never left it, working summers during college for Maui Fresh, the company then owned by his father, Art Bruno.

But with a business major and an economics minor, the 2001 graduate of the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, WA, went to work for an investment banker in San Francisco for two years and quickly found that the produce industry does not have a monopoly on long hours.

"I had no life," Mr. Bruno laughed.

While many companies might feel content to rest on their laurels after reaching 75 years in business, it is the company that is innovative and focused on the needs and wants of its customers that continues to reap success.

Currently celebrating its diamond anniversary, Ocean Spray Cranberries Inc., based in Middleboro, MA, is preparing for its next 75 years with several new products and three new additions to its senior management team to ensure that it succeeds.

STOCKTON, CA -- Onions Etc. Inc., based here, is expanding sales of its butter baby potatoes with the Albertson's supermarket chain to include servicing Albertson's supermarket stores in the San Francisco Bay area.

Onions Etc. already services about 200 Albertson's stores in the Los Angeles area.

"We've been doing well in Los Angeles," said Derrell Kelso Jr., co-founder, president and salesman for Onions Etc. "We're always looking for something new & to grow people's sales."

Onions Etc. also sells its potatoes in some Cub Foods stores in Minnesota.