With U.S. avocado consumption more than doubling over the past decade, it is not surprising that the demand for avocado ripening rooms has also increased tremendously.

Ashley Perryman, vice president of Dade Service Corporation, a family owned firm that has been constructing facilities and providing cold storage solutions for the produce industry since its inception in 1954, said pre-conditioned avocados have had a lot to do with fueling the increased popularity.

“More and more consumers are eating avocados and consequently the demand for pre-conditioned fruit continues to grow,” Perryman said.

Dade Service Corporation, a family owned firm, has been constructing facilities and providing cold storage solutions for the produce industry since its inception in 1954.It is mostly the grower-shipper industry creating the demand for these ripening rooms. The major shippers have put in avocado ripening rooms at strategic locations around the country so that they can supply their customers with ripe fruit. For decades, market research has shown that merchandising ripe avocados increases sales at retail significantly.

Perryman said Dade Service Corp., which is headquartered in Daytona Beach, FL, is the leading manufacturer of these rooms as it has developed advanced technology that can greatly speed up both the cooling and the ripening process to allow for greater utilization of the ripening room space.

She said distributors have different needs and Dade Service customizes the facility to fit the needs. Some distributors want the quickest turnaround time possible while others do not need that advantage and don’t want to invest the extra money, and energy, needed to speed up the process.  

“We work with some of the leading avocado companies in the industry,” she said, “offering the quickest cool down and heating rate, which allow for more throughput in the rooms and increased profit potential.”

Perryman said the advent of a pressurized refrigeration system in the 1990s was the technological advance that was the most revolutionary and helped change the industry.

She said the company has designed its ripening room with a reverse airflow feature that can greatly speed up both the cooling and heating process. For example, she said that while a standard cooling down process could take about 12 hours, the most advanced Dade Service system can accomplish the task in two to four hours.

The firm also custom designs its ripening rooms to accommodate its clients varying pallet sizes.

Another feature gaining traction is touch screen controls with a supervisory computer allowing for access and control over ripening room process at all times, even remotely. Perryman said the company’s ripening room installations also feature email and text alerts.

Though Dade Service has been located in South Florida since its inception more than 60 years ago, it travels the world to install ripening rooms.

While avocado ripening rooms are one of its most popular installations, Perryman said it also does its fair share of banana ripening rooms as well as coolers and freezers for a host of perishable products.

The company’s website touts its “design-build” approach as the best way to provide “faster completion times, lower construction cost and a higher-quality finished facility.”