Red Blossom Farms and ASG Produce form merger
Red Blossom Farms and ASG Produce form merger
Santa Maria, CA-based Red Blossom Farms and Fresno, CA-based ASG Produce Inc. have merged companies to form Red Blossom Sales Inc. in Santa Maria. The merger was effective Jan. 1.
ASG Produce has been the sales arm for Red Blossom Farms, and after working as a team for three years, Red Blossom Farms and ASG have joined forces to build a seamless marketing company with in-house sales. The merger creates administrative and service synergies for Red Blossom Sales as well as for the firm's growers and customers.
Sales will continue to be headquartered in Oxnard, CA, under ASG's Craig Casca; David Lawrence of Red Blossom Farms also will handle sales from the company's Santa Ynez, CA, office, though his primary task will be to continue to develop the existing grower base. "Some duties will be increased," Mr. Lawrence said.
Under the merger, customer and vendor numbers and accounts will remain the same to create an uninterrupted transition. The new company will continue to represent companies for which ASG handled sales: strawberry growers including Red Blossom Farms and Saticoy Berry Farms in Oxnard; Ronald Nunn Farms' apples; Foppiano Ranch's bell peppers and cherries; West Coast distribution of Sun Belle Inc.'s blackberries, blueberries and raspberries; and Nakama Ranch Inc.'s blueberries. No labels will change.
"Customer feedback has been great," Mr. Lawrence said. "We were just too segmented." It is that segmentation that has left the impression that Red Blossom is much smaller than it is, Mr. Lawrence said. The company will pack "Red Blossom" brand strawberries in all districts in which it grows: Watsonville-Salinas, Irvine, Baja California and Santa Maria. The only exception will be strawberries grown in Oxnard, CA, where the brand will be "Saticoy Farms."
Mr. Casca said that Red Blossom Farms is "on the verge of [having] 10 million packages" of strawberries, adding that Red Blossom has been ASG's "biggest deal."
Mr. Lawrence said that Red Blossom and ASG have grown tremendously over the past five years and, by joining forces, can create a unified presence to more effectively represent growers and customers within the industry.
"Our customer-service level will continue to be strong, and our attention to detail will not change," Mr. Lawrence said. "The merger will enable us to simplify our administrative systems and build deeper service levels for our customer base."
The businesses "will be more integrated on-line" than before, Mr. Lawrence said, through Red Blossom's web site, which it is upgrading again.
Red Blossom Sales intends to build on its momentum by developing its product line and adding other fruits that complement its current line.
ASG Produce has been the sales arm for Red Blossom Farms, and after working as a team for three years, Red Blossom Farms and ASG have joined forces to build a seamless marketing company with in-house sales. The merger creates administrative and service synergies for Red Blossom Sales as well as for the firm's growers and customers.
Sales will continue to be headquartered in Oxnard, CA, under ASG's Craig Casca; David Lawrence of Red Blossom Farms also will handle sales from the company's Santa Ynez, CA, office, though his primary task will be to continue to develop the existing grower base. "Some duties will be increased," Mr. Lawrence said.
Under the merger, customer and vendor numbers and accounts will remain the same to create an uninterrupted transition. The new company will continue to represent companies for which ASG handled sales: strawberry growers including Red Blossom Farms and Saticoy Berry Farms in Oxnard; Ronald Nunn Farms' apples; Foppiano Ranch's bell peppers and cherries; West Coast distribution of Sun Belle Inc.'s blackberries, blueberries and raspberries; and Nakama Ranch Inc.'s blueberries. No labels will change.
"Customer feedback has been great," Mr. Lawrence said. "We were just too segmented." It is that segmentation that has left the impression that Red Blossom is much smaller than it is, Mr. Lawrence said. The company will pack "Red Blossom" brand strawberries in all districts in which it grows: Watsonville-Salinas, Irvine, Baja California and Santa Maria. The only exception will be strawberries grown in Oxnard, CA, where the brand will be "Saticoy Farms."
Mr. Casca said that Red Blossom Farms is "on the verge of [having] 10 million packages" of strawberries, adding that Red Blossom has been ASG's "biggest deal."
Mr. Lawrence said that Red Blossom and ASG have grown tremendously over the past five years and, by joining forces, can create a unified presence to more effectively represent growers and customers within the industry.
"Our customer-service level will continue to be strong, and our attention to detail will not change," Mr. Lawrence said. "The merger will enable us to simplify our administrative systems and build deeper service levels for our customer base."
The businesses "will be more integrated on-line" than before, Mr. Lawrence said, through Red Blossom's web site, which it is upgrading again.
Red Blossom Sales intends to build on its momentum by developing its product line and adding other fruits that complement its current line.
