Last August, a Harvest Sensations executive discussed the Peruvian asparagus situation with an editor from The Produce News on the day that the stock market dropped more than 600 points. That 600-point drop was on the heels of two other days within the same week that registered losses of 500-plus points and was brought on by the downgrading of the U.S. bond rating. The Dow Jones Averages stood at under 10,800.

Tom Travers, general manager of Harvest Sensations, was worried. “I don’t worry about asparagus getting on menus,” he said at the time. “I worry about people staying home and not going out to eat.”

He remarked that the foodservice industry was beginning to rebound from the recession that began in 2008, and he was hoping that the stock market decline was not a precursor of terrible times ahead.

That dire week in 2011 did not prove to be a harbinger of things to come. Since then, the Dow Jones averages have gained more than 20 percent, and for this year’s interview they stood at over 13,000. Once again, executives at Harvest Sensations have been able to worry about getting asparagus on the menus and not so much about the U.S. economy, although the economy can certainly still use help.

This year, Tony Pinto, the company’s procurement manager, discussed the firm’s sales situation and reported good news. “Things have been very good,” he said. “We continue to increase our sales and grow month to month. People are going out to dinner and the foodservice industry is back.”

And he added that getting restaurants to put asparagus dishes on the menu is getting easier. “It’s not just for white tablecloth restaurants any more,” he said. “The mid-level chain restaurants are adding asparagus and that’s something that didn’t happen just a few years ago.”

Mr. Pinto emphasized that he is talking about green asparagus as white asparagus is still the exclusive domain of the high-end, upscale white tablecloth establishments.

“I don’t think I have ever seen white asparagus in a mid-level chain restaurant,” he said.

When he is talking about asparagus, Mr. Pinto said it is Peruvian asparagus that comes to mind. “About 90-95 percent of what we sell is Peruvian asparagus,” he said. “We handle a little Mexican asparagus, but we are year-round suppliers of asparagus from Peru. We have quarterly contracts with many growers down there and it works very well for us.”

In dealing with the foodservice customers, Mr. Pinto said that they are not as price sensitive as the retail or wholesale trade, but they are sticklers for product that is of a consistent size. While there are value-added retail packs that can utilize off sizes in creative ways, such as jumbo asparagus for grilling, Mr. Pinto said that the foodservice buyer typically wants the medium size and he wants a very uniform pack. Almost all of Harvest Sensation’s foodservice customers take the traditional 11-pound carton.

But Mr. Pinto said that while the company still is skewed more toward the foodservice arena, it has expanded its reach in the past year and is looking for more wholesale and retail business.

He said the company’s new president, Chris Coffman, has expertise in that area, and Harvest Sensations would like to get to a more even split between foodservice and non-foodservice sales.

Mr. Coffman, a 20-year veteran of the produce industry, was named president of the company in April. He is in charge of long-term strategic planning and business development for Harvest Sensations, which has offices in Monterey, Los Angeles and Miami.

Mr. Pinto said that asparagus is one of the company’s top items on a week-to-week basis and the firm is looking forward to the increase in production in Peru as the fall approaches.