“West Pak Avocado will be proudly exhibiting at booth number 99” at the Produce Marketing Association Foodservice Conference & Exposition in Monterey, CA, July 20-22, said Doug Meyer, vice president of sales and marketing for the Temecula, CA-based company. “I will be joined by the director of business development, Dan Acevedo, and salesman Jaime Ramirez.”

California avocados are among the items West Pak is promoting at the Produce Marketing Association foodservice event.Mr. Meyer said the company would be highlighting its JustRipe! avocado-ripening program at the expo.

“And we’ll be promoting our extensive supply chain of avocados from California, Mexico, Chile and Peru,” he added. “Our customer base is very diverse, and foodservice represents about one-third of our business.”

West Pak Avocado is a global supplier of avocados, and therefore may be found in a sushi restaurant in Japan, or in a small city diner in the U.S.

“We recently had a friend of West Pak on vacation in the Middle East send us a Photo of a West Pak PLU from Dubai,” noted Mr. Meyer. “Our foodservice customers touch almost every type of end user. What is exciting is that we are experiencing an explosion of new menu ideas in the family-style chains and quick serve restaurants. Many of these chains feature avocados on their print, television and radio advertisements.”

Mr. Meyer said that the economy definitely plays a role in the purchasing decision of chefs and foodservice buyers, however the driver of their decision making are the customers.

“The flavor and taste sensation that avocados deliver to a recipe is hard to duplicate,” he pointed out. “Avocados are featured as a component for breakfast, lunch or dinner. They provide many nutritional benefits and are a more health-conscious alternative than other ingredients.”

Mr. Meyer announced that West Pak Avocado recent hired two new sales representatives. Javier Garcia joined its Midwest sales office located in Chicago, and Jaime Ramirez joined its West Coast sales office in Temecula.

“Both of these men bring many years of experience in produce sales and customer service to our company,” said Mr. Meyer. “Additionally, Michael Johanson has just joined our team. He will be working on supply chain management throughout our company.

“Being a global supplier of avocados involves a complex supply chain between all of the countries of origin, our packing facilities, our distribution and ripening centers and our customers,” he continued. “We are very pleased to have all three of these outstanding people on our team.”

He added that 2012 continues to be a very exciting year for West Pak Avocado. Besides being the company’s 30th anniversary year, it is a time of significant expansion for its production, ripening and distribution facilities nationwide.

“We are expanding to stay ahead of our customers’ growth, and the very promising projections for continued growth in avocado consumption in the United States and other countries,” said Mr. Meyer.