Now in its second year, Global Bloom LLC, headquartered in the Bronx, NY, engages in importing and exporting produce, predominantly into North America.

Managing Director Claire Sakho told The Produce News that the company has refined its field of customers and items since it was formed.

“We are focusing on more concentrated items, and we like one strong partner in each region we service,” said Sakho. “One example is our red onion program from the Netherlands. It grew substantially this year. Rather than beginning in January, as we did last year, we began last October. The product is being very well received by our customers in the U.S. and in Canada.”

Sakho understands the international market very well. She was born in France to a mother from Brittany and a father who was born in Senegal, Africa. She is fluent in French and English, and she understands Dutch. She also speaks two West African languages fluently; Woloff and Bambara.

“If people speak slowly, I can understand Spanish,” she added. “I also studied Russian. I lived in Moscow in 1987 studying for the International Olympiad of the Russian language. Students are tested, and like the Olympics, they win medals. I won silver.”

Sakho was 18 when she realized that she would not be able to finish her French degree because her English was poor. She came to the United States with the initial goal of working for one year to improve her language skills, but stayed almost 20 years.

In 2010 she relocated to Holland to work for a company selling product produced there and in Belgium to customers in the United States and in Canada.

“In 2014, some of my customers in the Northeast U.S. approached me saying that they liked my product and wanted to invest in a company that handles products internationally,” she noted. “I moved back to New York, and Global Bloom was founded.”

Given her international background, Sakho started Global Bloom with what she calls a grand idea to import unique specialty items and do demos to show consumers how versatile the item is.

“I quickly realized the expense and time doing this would require, when items like red onions need no explanation and are widely used by consumers,” she said. “I still do lot of opportunity buys, however. I find it an exciting challenge when there is a shortage and I’m called on to find product. It gives me a lot of pleasure when I accomplish something that others deem impossible. Customers remember that we got the product they asked for.”

Global Bloom’s export business focuses strongly on European countries. Items have included apples, citrus and blueberries, and Sakho is looking into sweet potatoes.

“Countries in the E.U. need supplemental supplies when there are shortages just like we do in the U.S. and in Canada,” she said.