LOG ANGELES — Things haven’t changed a lot in the past year at VIP Marketing Inc., here, and considering that things changed for the worse for a number of Los Angeles area produce companies over the last year, not much change can be considered a good thing.

Chris MartinJust a year ago, Chris Martin, president of VIP Marketing, told The Produce News that doing business in the current economic climate “has been a battle the last few years,” but “we are still here and we think that we are going to be here for a long time to come.”

On June 28, he said, “The economy here in Los Angeles is still pretty delicate. Things are tough as can be. But we are fortunate that we are still in business. A lot of companies are not in business.”

Staying in business, he said, is “a lot of work” and more stressful than one would wish. But “we are here for the long haul and hoping that we can make the right decisions going forward as to who we sell and who we choose not to sell to.”

Some companies that VIP had been doing business with “all of a sudden weren’t there anymore,” and sometimes “they go away” owing some of their suppliers “big money,” he said. “We have been fortunate enough not to have had big losses” like some other companies “here in the market” have experienced.

“Our expenses are up,” he said. “Profit margins are down, and it is getting tougher and tougher to be in business. But we are still here, and we are still fighting and pushing forward, so we are very grateful for that.”

VIP is part of a group of family owned and operated companies that also includes Value Produce and Martin Trucking Co. Three generations of the Martin family are involved. Mr. Martin’s father, Jesse Martin, is CEO of VIP and runs Value Produce as well as the trucking company. Value Produce has had a presence on the Los Angeles Wholesale Produce Market since 1992, and VIP has been around since 1996.

The company’s continued survival has been “definitely a team effort,” Mr. Martin said. “All my family has come together to make sure that we are doing things the right way.” Without that, “we won’t be here tomorrow,” he said.

VIP focuses heavily on imported products such as “mixed berries, imported asparagus, grapes from South America” and Ataulfo mangos, Mr. Martin said. The company handles grapes, blueberries and strawberries on a year-round basis, with both imported and domestic sourcing, but “most of our strength is on the import end.”

Imports currently in season included mangos from Mexico and asparagus from Mexico and Peru, he said.

Toward fall, “the blackberries and raspberries start to come into play out of South America and Mexico, and blueberries as well.”

The Mexico asparagus season started in June and will run through January, he said. Currently, supplies were less than plentiful and “prices are up,” he said.

Mangos, on the other hand, were in peak production “so the market is pretty sloppy on mangos,” he said.

“We provide good service to our customers, and we are consistently trying to build relationships with customers and trying to build a solid foundation,” Mr. Martin concluded.