An all-Idaho foodservice promotion featuring USA Onions and the Idaho Potato Commission, along with other agricultural producers and commodity commissions, is set for Feb. 20-21 in Chicago.

According to Sherise Jones, marketing director for the Idaho-Eastern Oregon Onion Committee/USA Onions, the promo will include a customer appreciation reception at Chef’s Burger Bistro in downtown Chicago as well as a Young Chefs Competition and foodservice reception at the prestigious Kendall College.

“The gist of our business is simple,” said Owen Margolis, sales representative for Sy Katz Produce Inc. in Pompano Beach, FL. “We work with our growing partners year round and we have a strong supply chain from the Caribbean and from Mexico through Nogales.

“We follow the domestic seasons from Florida northward, and in the fall we work our way back south,” he added.

Sy Katz handles sales for Juniper Produce in Quincy, FL, Full House Farms in Clinton, NC, and Deep South Farms and Walt Carter Farms, which are both located in Lake Park, GA.

“As Florida’s fall produce season kicks into high gear, our new cold storage warehouse facility, CrowleyFresh, in Miami is busy handling an influx of locally grown seedless melons and other seasonal perishables,” said Eduardo Campos, the director of logistics for CrowleyFresh.

CrowleyFresh opened in Miami in early 2013. It is a joint offering by Crowley Maritime Corp., headquartered in Jacksonville, FL, and Customized Brokers, a customs brokerage company also located in Miami.

Consumers are getting more exploratory in the produce department, and this is good news for Brooks Tropicals LLC, headquartered in Homestead, FL. “North American consumers are adventuresome,” said Director of Marketing Mary Ostlund. “They love a frontier. And in the produce section, tropicals are the new frontier. [This is] particularly important with everyone upping the amount of fruit and veggies they’re eating. They want to eat more of the produce they love. But they want to be tempted to love more.”

It was just about four years ago that the partners in Greengate Fresh LLC in Salinas, CA, filed their incorporation papers and began to put their business plan in action. By April of 2010, the firm was selling bags of lettuce and other staple commodities to the foodservice industry.

“From the very beginning we put our focus on the foodservice or hospitality industry and that is still the major portion of our business,” said Jay Iverson, vice president of sales and marketing for the firm. “We do a little bit of club store business, but basically we stick to foodservice customers.”

Kathy Hearl, marketing promotions manager for DNE World Fruit Sales, said consumers can expect to see top-quality Florida fresh citrus in the produce department this season. “The eating quality has been very good,” she told The Produce News. “We are seeing higher Brix levels this season, and the fruit is shaping up nicely. The packouts have been higher than last season.”

Although fruit is showing some evidence of wind scarring on the outside, Hearl said this does not affect the eating quality of the fruit.