Frank Dandrea, president of Dandrea Produce Inc., headquartered in Vineland, NJ, told The Produce News that the company is exhibiting at the Produce Marketing Association Fresh Summit in New Orleans Oct. 18-20.

Its primary strategy at the show is to continue its pursuit of its business model in terms of growing its sources, importing new and interesting high-quality products, and continuing its goal of partnering with new companies.

“We always look forward to meeting and greeting our existing partners, of course,” and in our current growth mode, they are integral to our continued success,” said Dandrea. “We will also be featuring our value-added packaging and describing to visitors about our regional and international growth plans for the future.”

Dandrea Produce will be at Booth No. 1657. All of the key sales, purchasing and operations’ staff members, and all of the Dandrea family members who work in the business, including the executive staff, will be at the Summit.

Jana Dandrea, Mike DeLeo, Adam Dandrea, Art Smaniotto, Ron Dandrea, Peter Dandrea, Juan Estay, Steve Dandrea, Frank Dandrea, Mike Madden and Lauren Dandrea of Dandrea Produce.“It is impossible to relay every detail that we set out to accomplish at this important event, but we will be most strongly conveying our continued pursuit of our business model in terms of growth,” said Dandrea. “We are aggressively exploring new sources from both international and domestic partners.”

The company’s strong growth mode has it doing constant renovations and improvements at its headquarter facility. In mid-September, it was adding a new fleet of trucks to its services.

“The new logistics’ division will operate under the Dandrea Produce name,” Dandrea explained. “We are starting with eight units. We’ve somewhat handled our own trafficking in the past, but we have now purchased our own equipment and we’re hiring our own drivers. This will give us a few advantages; one being that we will have better control over our movements and there will be a considerable cost savings. We’re now spending over $22 million a year on in-and-out freight, and having our own fleet will be a benefit in this regard.”

Dandrea Produce is a true generational family owned business, and family relationships are imperative to all members. The company was founded in 1917 by Frank Dandrea. He produced peaches and leafy greens on 400 acres in Vineland, distributing his products to local retailers.

Third generation Dandrea family member, and Dandrea’s grandson, Steven Dandrea, Frank’s brother, is the vice president today. Another brother, Ron, is secretary-treasurer. But now the fourth generation is coming on fast. There are currently three of the seven Dandrea grandchildren — representing the fourth generation — now working for the company full time.

The most recent to join the firm was Peter Dandrea, Steven’s son. He joined the company fresh out of the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School in July this year. He holds the title of logistics coordinator for West Coast farms, logistics coordinator, import programs, and logistics director for the company’s direct store delivery program.

Dandrea is excited to announce that it recently expanded its agreement with Martinavarro S.A in Valencia, Spain, which produces the “Roxy” brand clementines from Spain. It has held a joint venture program with the company for the past several years for distribution in the United States.

“We recently entered into a new formal joint venture agreement with regards to importation, growing and distribution of the ‘Roxy’ brand worldwide,” said Dandrea. “The agreement was formalized just in the past few months. The function is for Dandrea Produce to be the sales arm in North America, and to procure, grow and import citrus from both domestic and worldwide resources.”

Dandrea has also entered into a new agreement with Blocker Farming Enterprises LLC, in Clewiston, FL. The company is owned by Cale Blocker. The partnership will be for Blocker to grow a number of field vegetables, such as cucumbers, eggplant and other typical eastern vegetables in partnership with Dandrea. The program begins in week 43 and ends in weeks five to six.

“We also recently signed a contract with Omar Hernandez, a grower in Honduras for greenhouse cucumbers and field vegetables such as yellow squash, field greens, eggplant and hard squashes,” said Dandrea. “This program starts on week 51 and runs to week 16.

“This program creates a slight overlap with Florida, but both of these growers are high-quality producers who have strident quality control demands,” he continued. “We won’t have a problem moving these items, and they fit into our continuity to continue to have products under our own control.”