Steve Circle, formerly sales director at Sunrise Growers Inc. in Placentia, CA has joined Main Street Produce Inc. in Santa Maria as director of strawberry marketing and sales starting in February.

Sunrise Growers, a subsidiary of frozen fruit processor Frozsun Foods, is “going to wrap things up on the fresh side,” so Circle is coming to Main Street “with all of his experience and knowledge. We are very excited to have him on board,” said Main Street’s President Paul Allen.

With Circle on board, “I am going to be stepping off of the sales desk myself and having Steve take over for me,” he said.

Circle confirmed to The Produce News that Sunrise is phasing out of the fresh strawberry business but said that Sunrise Growers-Frozsun Foods “is and will continue to be” the “market-leading” frozen fruit processing operation in North America.

Circle started with Sunrise Growers in 1990 in a sales capacity, he told The Produce News Feb. 6. “Actually, I handled a lot of different aspects in sales. I was a Walmart business analyst, district manager and eventually was promoted to director of sales. In the director role I was responsible for the budgeting process, sales planning, business development and management of the sales staff.”

“Our company has been growing at a rate of about 20 percent a year for the last few years,” Allen said. “With Steve joining our team, I expect this growth to continue so long as we maintain the quality that we are committed to. We are not going to jump out there and double the acreage the very next year, but we want to be able to have steady growth that we can maintain the quality.”

With the continued growth of the company, “I’ve known that I would be needing to have somebody take over sales for me,” Allen said. But “I didn’t want just anybody” to take on the job. “When I heard about Sunrise making the changes and that Steve would possibly be available,” and knowing his reputation and his experience at Sunrise, “I jumped at the opportunity to talk to Steve and convince him to come up to Santa Maria.”

“After meeting Paul Allen and some of his staff, touring the farms and seeing the new cooling facility, I quickly knew this is a company I would be proud to represent,” Circle said.

With Circle taking over the sales and marketing functions, Allen said, “I am going to spend my time” focusing on such activities as maintaining the quality of the pack, overseeing farming operations and the supervisors in the field, and “making sure that things are being run the way they should,” that the ranches are maintained in proper condition, that “people are being managed properly,” and that food-safety issues are being addressed.

Main Street Produce, which primarily grows strawberries and broccoli, has added three new growers and increased its strawberry acreage for the 2014 season by about 50 acres in Santa Maria, bringing the total to around 350 acres, Allen said. “We have three varieties: San Andreas, Monterey and Albion.”

Because of warmer-than-usual winter weather, the harvest in Santa Maria was coming on faster than normal. “We expect to start picking San Andreas the middle of February,” he said.

The company has recently implemented a traceability program on clamshells that will be in effect this season. “We are going to be PTI-compliant this year on our boxes for the chainstores,” Allen said.

Also, “we have hired additional quality control personnel both in the field and at the cooler.”

“I am coming into a company that is focused on what I consider to be one of the last true grower-shipper models,” said Circle. “They handle everything from nursery stock selection, company farming and cultural practices” to quality assurance, shipping and marketing. “There are not many companies that are doing that now.”

Main Street has “a very good mix of loyal regular customers,” Circle said in a written statement. “Their export program is especially strong. My role will be to add direct retail business in a conservative way that will support the growth that Main Street has planned. Main Street’s largely company farms model provides a consistently premium product that I believe will enhance any retailer’s strawberry program. Our goal is to conservatively align ourselves with strong regional retailers and/or divisions within National groups.”