Chuck Olsen Co. to tout snack packs at IFPA show
Foodservice sales in the fruit category are an important part of the portfolio for The Chuck Olsen Co., a century-old grower-shipper-packer of fruits in California’s San Joaquin Valley.
The original Chuck Olsen came over from Denmark early in the 20th century as a teenager, and began farming a few years later in Orange Cove, CA. His grandson, the late Floyd Charles (Chuck) Olsen started the namesake company in the late 1980s and today, his son, Jeff Olsen, serves as president and is carrying on the farming tradition of the four-generation deep Olsen family.
As he prepared for the upcoming San Joaquin Valley summer grape deal in late June, Jeff Olsen noted that he was looking forward to a solid grape season as citrus production has been off this year. “We’ve had a rough go of it with lemons from District II (the Coastal Region and main lemon supplying area),” he said. “The prices are high and the quality is not that good.”
He did note that there should be some relief in the marketplace by the third week of July when South American lemons — from Argentina and Chile — start arriving in the United States. “That should ease the pain on lemons,” he said.
He added that California’s spring/summer/fall Valencia crop is about two million boxes short of the pre-season estimate of 16 million cartons, which has led to high prices and the potential for a shortened season. California’s Valencia oranges typically appear on the market in spring, peak during the summer and last into the fall until the Navel season starts up.
Olsen said the industry will be hard pressed to make it through the season with volume. “Hopefully, we can make it (until the Navels start),” he said. “But there might be a little bit of a gap this year.”
Fortunately, the Olsen company has a number of options on its sales sheet to weather the storm brought by any specific commodity. The company expected to start with table grapes from the valley last week; “It looks like a good crop this year,” he said.
He added that Mexico is expected to continue shipping fresh table grapes to the U.S. market past mid-July so there is not a rush to get going on California’s summer crop. “We’re praying for a good grape year,” he said. “We have to get at least $20 per carton to break even.”
Olsen noted that he was looking forward to the International Fresh Produce Association’s Foodservice Conference in Monterey, CA, as he quipped it will be much cooler there and give him a respite from San Joaquin Valley temperatures, which can easily top 100 degrees during the hot summer months.
He said the foodservice show adds incremental sales for oranges and lemons, and there is also market for grape snack pack among school foodservice operators. Olsen added that volume may not be particularly high for any specific product, but all the sales help in building a well-rounded program. He reported that the newer, sweeter varieties are very popular with kids as they offer large fruit that eats well
Olsen added that the Chuck Olsen Co. thrives by staying in its lane, continuing with the status quo and concentrating on servicing its customers.
Tim Linden
About Tim Linden | 
Tim Linden grew up in a produce family as both his father and grandfather spent their business careers on the wholesale terminal markets in San Francisco and Los Angeles.
Tim graduated from San Diego State University in 1974 with a degree in journalism. Shortly thereafter he began his career at The Packer where he stayed for eight years, leaving in 1983 to join Western Growers as editor of its monthly magazine. In 1986, Tim launched Champ Publishing as an agricultural publishing specialty company.
Today he is a contract publisher for several trade associations and writes extensively on all aspects of the produce business. He began writing for The Produce News in 1997, and currently wears the title of Editor at Large.
