Healthy Avocado is a new avocado label currently shipping exclusively from Mexico.

Paul Weismann, owner and founder of the Berkeley, CA-based company, said that while the name and label are new, he has actually been in the produce industry for more than 20 years and has been importing avocados from Mexico for more than a decade. Previously, the firm operated under the name California Seafood & Produce Co. from the same Berkeley location.

“Most of our business involves importing Mexican avocados and that is one of the most popular commodities right now, so it made sense to change our name,” he said. “We were always having to explain our name.”

The previous name actually represents the firm’s roots. Weismann started in the food business in 1993, exporting seafood to Japan and Taiwan.

“We shipped sea urchins, butterfish, California salmon, quite a few different seafood items,” he noted.

Early in the genesis of his firm, an Asian customer asked him to start sourcing wild mushrooms that are mostly harvested in the Pacific Northwest. Weismann did his homework and set up a buying operation in British Columbia. He explained that foragers would roam the forests and bring in exotic mushrooms each day that they would then sell on a cash basis. These mushrooms are often very expensive – as much as $1,000 per kilo, said Weismann. One of the more popular and expensive finds is the Matsutake Pine mushroom.

Weismann said it can be a very lucrative market but it is also very weather-dependent. Foragers work from Northern California to Canada following the wild mushroom season. Sometimes there are a lot of mushrooms to sell and other times the cupboard is bare.

From that first foray into produce by exporting mushrooms, the firm then moved into Northwest cherries followed by asparagus from California and Washington, and eventually grapefruit from Florida.

In 2002, as the shipments of Mexican avocados to the Midwestern states were beginning to take off, Weismann moved into that commodity.

“We have had the good fortune of being involved with Mexican avocados since they were just getting started [in the United States],” he said.

The firm has risen with the increased popularity of Mexican avocados. In the 14 years that the company has imported the crop, Weismann said the volume of imports has grown many times over. He marvels at the 1.7 billion pounds of Mexican avocados imported into the United States in 2015, recalling when the number was around 80,000 pounds.

Like most U.S. distributors of Mexican avocados, Healthy Avocado does not have its own packingsheds south of the border but rather works with many medium-sized packers on a custom-packing basis. Weismann said that what sets his firm apart is its specifications that call for only the best quality pack.  

“We sell better quality than the other guys,” he said. “Our packinghouses are top-flight and our fruit is better.”

The company sells the fruit under the Healthy Avocado label as well as Avo Rico, which he said is its second label but is as good as anything else out there.  

Besides selling what he believes are superior avocados, Weismann said the firm takes pride in providing customers with very important market information. Supply and demand drive the price, and the industry veteran said having the most up-to-date market information is critical.

“We let our customers know how many trucks are crossing each day and how much fruit is out there from the various sources,” said Weismann. “Right now California, Chile and Mexico all have fruit. And soon Peru will be shipping [into the United States] as well.”

He said the firm is poised to add other Mexican points of origin, such as Jalisco, when they are finally approved for shipping into the United States. And he expects to import Peruvian avocados for the first time this summer.

While Healthy Avocado will sell to any buyer, Weismann said its specialty is the independent and smaller retailers as well as wholesale and foodservice distributors. He loves the produce industry, calling it very democratic. For the most part, buyers will give you a chance and if you perform, you will keep the business, he said.

Though its name seems to designate it as a single commodity firm, Weismann said Healthy Avocado continues to deal in a number of other fresh produce commodities, such as tropical fruit from Hawaii and vegetables from Mexico, while continuing to maintain its original wild mushroom and citrus exporting business.