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Tomato Specialists to unveil all-cause marketing campaign

Think pink, think empowerment. Then visit Tomato Specialists Inc. at Booth No. 205 at the Canadian Produce Marketing Association Convention and Trade Show.

The company, headquartered in Lehigh Acres, FL, will unveil its new all-cause marketing campaign and creation of its sister/memorial company, J.V. Steele Inc., at this year’s CPMA show. The product specially tied to rollout is pink onions, which the company is importing from England.

TomatoSpecialistsCPMAJoanne Steele, Rachelle Steele-Cerone, Kevin Cerone and Dianne Steele, all of whom will be available at Booth No. 205. (Photo courtesy of Tomato Specialists Inc.)President Joanne Steele said visitors will have a chance to speak with her, Vice President Dianne Steele, Sales and Marketing Director Rachelle Steele-Cerone and Sales and Transportation Director Kevin Cerone. Gary Palmer, president of J.F. Palmer & Sons Produce Inc., will also be available.

“We want to help retailers do their promotions,” she said. The pink onion, long known in Europe as a culinary onion, is relatively new to North America. Because of its color, Steele said there is an obvious tie-in to cancer awareness.

Tomato Specialists traces its corporate roots back to 1988, when the Steele family opened its doors in Montreal.

In 1989, the family moved to Florida to make the Sunshine State its permanent residence. “We spent years as a family specializing in tomatoes, onions, fruits and vegetables,” Steele told The Produce News. 

“After my brother Michael’s passing in February 2010, his having battled cancer for six months at the age 50, I then opened J.V. Steele Inc., as memorial company for the Steele family,” she continued. “Both my father, Victor, and brother, Michael, passed away within a year of each other. My mother, Joyce, had passed away suddenly in the 2004. J.V. Steele Inc. stands for ‘J’ for Joyce, ‘V’ for Victor and ‘Steele’ for my brother [and] my twin sister, Dianne, and myself, who hold the same last name to date.”

 

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