Lakeside Organic Gardens LLC, in Watsonville, CA, handles 40 commodities. Its line includes organic broccoli, cauliflower, celery, leaf lettuce, bunched greens, zucchini, beets, spinach, leeks, romaine hearts, dandelions and cabbage.

Caroline Hogue, sales manager, said that the company’s exposure in the Northeast is relatively limited, but it is important to get its message out to companies in the region.

Kurt Zuhlke, president of Kurt Zuhlke & Associates Inc., in Bangor, PA, will be representing his company at the New England Produce & Floral Council Expo in Foxboro, MA, on April 25 at booth No. 120.

Business is buzzing at Blue Creek Produce LLC, located in St. Charles, IL.

“We are 100-percent year-round,” owner Roger Riehm told The Produce News on April 3. “Ultimately, we never stop.”

Mr. Riehm and his staff move quality produce to its chain and foodservice customers in 30 states and Canada.

A division of labor that keys in on commodity groups and geographic territories is serving the staff of Muller Trading Co. Inc. well, according to Account Manager/Sales Manager Sarah Miller. “We have a sales person for each of the following groupings: tomatoes, potatoes and onions, California vegetables, citrus and melons, and peppers and squash,” she told The Produce News on March 29.

The Libertyville, IL-based distribution company opened its doors in 2000. Muller Trading works to find the best possible produce at optimum price.

Jeff Olsen New for The Chuck Olsen Co. Inc.

There was no official crop estimate yet for the 2012 Sonora spring grape deal when The Produce News talked to William (Bill) Sykes, president of The Sykes Co. in Nogales, AZ, April 4. He had just been to a meeting of people in Nogales who are involved in the Sonora grape deal, at which the crop was discussed, but no official estimates were announced. “They said they’d have them in a week or so,” he said.