The consumption of avocados has experienced phenomenal growth in recent years and mimicking that trajectory has been an expansion in people, facilities and volume for Del Rey Avocado Co. Inc., based in Fallbrook, CA.

Co-owner and company president, Bob Lucy, spoke to The Produce News in early March and ticked off a number of changes in the firm in the past year all indicating significant growth in volume and reach. The firm has opened up a couple of new offices, hired some well-respected industry veterans, is in the process of purchasing a warehouse/packing facility on the East Coast and has added both conventional and organic acreage in California and Mexico.

Smaller Morro Bay fruit is marketed in a modified egg carton as ‘Gator Eggs.’“Last summer we opened up an office in San Antonio and hired Marco Hernandez,” Lucy said.

He noted that the new office has given the company eyes and ears on the ground at the Texas border, which is where a majority of Mexican avocados cross into the United States. Hernandez has also been able to concentrate his sales efforts on Texas and Midwest markets allowing Del Rey to gain sales strength in those regions.

The firm has long had an association in Vineland, NJ, where it has a forward distribution facility for packing and conditioning avocados. Lucy said the company is currently in the final stages of buying that facility, which will give it greater control and allow it to increase its bagging capacity.

Within the past year, Del Rey also hired two industry veterans that previously worked at Mission Produce in Oxnard, CA. Ron Araiza is now the company’s vice president of business development while Joseph Jauregui is involved in national sales. Lucy described the two new hires as “hitting a home run” and noted that both are helping the company secure more volume and sales. As a result, Del Rey is opening up an office in Ventura County, which is about 150 miles north of Del Rey’s headquarters and also a prime avocado producing region.

Del Rey has always been long noted as one of the leaders in the production and sales of organic avocados. Lucy said the company continues to add production from both Mexico and California as more and more growers are transitioning at least some of their acreage to organics. And Del Rey is doing the same with its own groves. “The demand for organic avocados is growing even faster than the avocado category,” he said, which has seen double-digit growth on an annual basis for a decade.

Lucy said the organic market is, on average, 20-25 percent higher on an f.o.b. basis than the conventional market, simply because of increased demand. And he said Del Rey has shown that it can produce an organic avocado in the same full array of sizes as conventional fruit. “It’s a misconception that we can’t get organic avocados to size. We have proven that you can do it and in fact, it is getting easier as more (crop protection) materials come on the market that can be used in organic production.”