Crespo ready for summer mango mania

Empaque Don Jorge I opened its doors this past weekend and is currently packing Crespo Organic Ataulfos from El Grupo Crespo’s Nayarit orchards. EDJI is the hometown packhouse of El Grupo Crespo and is among Latin America’s largest hydro-thermic packhouses and home to El Grupo Crespo’s three proprietary brands: Crespo Organic,  RCF and Mango King — the company’s specialty mango brand named after and honoring the late Alan Alvarez, aka the Mango King.

EDJI, originally built by Roberto Crespo Fitch in the early 1970s, went through a total modernization revamp in 2016 by his children Malu, Roberto, Jorge and Jose Angel, who today run the family agricultural business alongside the family matriarch Maluz Duran Valdez.

This season starts with increased square footage — 155,000-plus square feet — now configured for a total of eight packinglines, packing over 14 different labels for growers across Mexico and for some of the largest conventional U.S. mango importers. One dedicated full-time packingline accommodates the Crespo Organic brand, with an added specialty package line devoted fully to company’s numerous specialty package SKU’s like the Net Bags and A Case for Consumers.  Additionally, there is a separate processing and packing section dedicated solely to non-hot water treated and Canadian exports.

This modern packhouse, revamped and modernized, now includes 11 stainless steel hydro-thermic tanks allowing over 141,000 pounds of fresh mangos to be USDA hot water treated simultaneously, while state-of-the-art cooling equipment cools the processed fruit rapidly in the seven cold rooms as well as pre- and post-cooling facilities.

All the high-tech, efficient and worker-friendly stainless-steel machines — washers, sorters, polishers, conveyers and packinglines — are splayed out across the vast space, ready for the heavy volume of mangos coming and the summer mango mania to commence. Delays to the start of the Nayarit round fruit give the packhouse a little more time to get ready for processing in full capacity — around 16-18 truckloads per day.

The entire mango packing process is extremely complex; it all happens in 72 hours, with over 18 hours allocated to post-pack cooling. EDJI is one of the most efficient and quality-driven packhouses packing for North America.  Head to Under The Mango Tree for all the facts & figures.