Before starting Delano, CA-based Fruit Royale Inc. 11 years ago with his brother, Louie Galvan had spent his career as a buyer and buyer-broker.  As a seller today, he stills has the buyer’s perspective in mind, which greatly enhances his ability to service his customers.  To a certain extent, he knows their needs.Fruit Royale owners John Galvan (left) and his brother Louie Galvan.

However, being a seller of grapes is different than being a buyer.  “The game is the same but the perspective is different,” he said.  “I have to keep both the grower and the buyer happy.”

As a buyer, the grower’s needs don’t really enter into the equation.  Galvan said he and his brother, John, started their company with the help of the Hronis family, a well-known Delano grape grower and shipper.  “I can’t say enough about the Hronis family.  They helped us tremendously.”

As a distributor, Fruit Royale represents several growers in the Delano area, which completes their year-round representation of grapes.  “Grapes are our forte,” said Galvan.  “We do a little with citrus in the fall but 365 days a year, our customer can rely on us for grapes.”

The company also represents grapes from Chile, Peru and Mexico, which gives Fruit Royale a year-round supply.  The Mexican deal was just about over as Galvan talked to The Produce News in early July.  “We started a little bit early in Delano this year,” he said, “so there was a bit of an overlap.”

Galvan said that Delano typically ships its first grapes around July 6, though this year shipments began two weeks earlier on June 22.  “But the volume has not increased like it typically does.  Usually it starts to ramp up from the first day and increases every day after that,” he said.  “This year for the first two weeks, it was stop and go.  The hot weather slowed us down last week (week of June 29) and the cool weather this week (week of July 6) has also impacted us.”

But Galvan noted that volume throughout July should continue to pick up and by the time this article is published toward the end of July, promotable volume should be the order of the day for Delano and other California grape districts.  “Right now the grapes look great,” he said. “The bunches are well-formed and the sizing is coming along. The crop is in very good shape. We didn’t have any volume for the Fourth of July but when the Scarlet Royals come on (later in July) volume should be great.”

Galvan has seen a lot of changes in the produce industry and calls the paths of communication the most significant change.  “The business has changed, with the way we communicate probably the biggest change. When I was a buyer everything was done over the phone and I wrote all the orders by hand.  Now we have email and iTrade and a lot of program buying with much of the product pre-sold. It’s different.”

The varieties have also changed with many new varieties popping up every year.  Galvan said the large number of varieties is another way in which Fruit Royale can provide service to its customers.  He said it is difficult for the buyer to keep up with all the varieties and their timing each year.  There was a day when the Thompson Seedless variety was king but now that has been replaced with more than a half dozen newer varieties. “The Thompson Seedless is a fantastic grape but it just can’t get big and juicy like the newer varieties. It doesn’t get the size and can’t meet chain specs.  That’s too bad but it is what it is.”

For his palate, Galvan likes the Scarlet Red and Autumn King. Scarlet Red is a nice red variety with deep color, great flavor and good crunch. Autumn King has the same characteristics from the green grape side of the ledger.  “It is the last great green variety of the season,” he said.