Easily one of the more recognizable figures in the produce industry owing to his three decades in the business, Tony Merola will again be on the seminar circuit as the principal of Merola Marketing Group Inc., his Weston, FL-based consulting company that looks to educate the foodservice and retail segments of the industry on ways to best handle and use fruits and vegetables.

For the past three years, Mr. Merola has been the face of "Litehouse? brand dressings as the company?s corporate executive chef, developing recipes for the product line and conducting demonstrations at retail locations and food industry trade shows. In what he described as an "amicable parting," Mr. Merola left Litehouse March 1 to devote his time to his consulting business, which was on hiatus while he was working with the dressing company.

?I am back doing what I love doing: seminars," Mr. Merola told The Produce News.

Mr. Merola said that a typical client is a restaurant, foodservice company, retailer or anyone that wants more knowledge about the use of produce items. For example, a foodservice firm might hire Mr. Merola to conduct a seminar and demonstration for its sales force to educate them about a particular product or products the company handles. Armed with the extensive knowledge conveyed by Mr. Merola, the salespeople will be better able to sell the products.

A graduate of the New York Culinary Institute, Mr. Merola gained experience in a number of top restaurants in New York, including the one at the world-famous Biltmore Hotel. He broke into the produce industry in the early 1970s when he joined Calavo Growers as Eastern marketing director. Subsequently, he worked as national merchandising manager for the California Avocado Commission and joined Homestead, FL-based Brooks Tropicals as director of marketing and executive chef.

Mr. Merola founded Merola Marketing Group Inc. in 1998 after leaving Brooks Tropicals. With expertise in avocados, mangos, papayas and a wide variety of lettuces, he spent the next four years on the seminar circuit before joining Litehouse in 2002. While his day-to-day commitment was in promoting the dressing line, his name and "Chef Tony? brand and likeness remained in produce via licensing agreements that were in place for a number of products, including different lettuces, peeled garlic and "bright lights," a Swiss chard product.

In 1996, Mr. Merola added author to his list of accomplishments with the release of the cookbook Floribbean Flavors, which fuses the Latino, Caribbean and Anglo cuisines of South Florida into one cuisine dubbed Floribbean. A second cookbook, which will feature dishes he described as "new Italian," is due to be released by the end of the year.

For more information about Merola Marketing Group Inc., log on to www.cheftony.com or contact Mr. Merola at 954/349-2836.