Tavilla Sales Co. of Los Angeles has changed its name to Vision Produce Co. to mark the fact that it is a different company than it was when President Bill Vogel founded it in 1980.

Mr. Vogel told The Produce News that when he partnered with the Tavilla brokerage firm in San Francisco and some other partners to establish the Los Angeles-based entity 32 years ago, the company operated mostly as a brokerage firm dealing with off-season vegetables, specialties and citrus inbound to the southwestern United States.

Over the next couple of decades, the company evolved into new distribution channels and added new product lines to its mix. And Mr. Vogel bought out his partners and became the sole owner of the operation.

In 2000, the company moved into a new warehouse in Los Angeles, featuring four individual temperature-controlled cold rooms for specialized product care. And the company continued to expand.

By 2003, the firm was working directly with shippers throughout Mexico, and also had mango programs in Central America and South America. In 2003, the company opened up a branch office and warehouse in Phoenix to provide enhanced service to its customers in that region.

In 2008, Mr. Vogel formed a partnership with East Coast entrepreneurs Ron Cohen and Raul Millan, and first gave a name to the company’s evolving direction as that operation was called Vision Import Group, headquartered in River Edge, NJ.

“It’s kind of a funny story how we came up with the name,” Mr. Vogel said.

It seems the three partners were in an office in New Jersey discussing their concept and hashing out some names. “Raul’s 9-year-old son, Daniel, was with us,” Mr. Vogel recalled. “We were saying that we wanted a name that looked to the future and represented where we wanted to go. Daniel said how about ‘Vision’?”

Mr. Vogel said that Messrs. Cohen and Millan chose the complete moniker, Vision Import Group, to connote their emphasis on importing mangos, limes and other products. Along with the expansion to the East Coast in that partnership, Mr. Vogel continued expanding his own core company.

In fact, in the past year the company opened an office in Nogales, AZ, moved into a new state-of-the-art facility in Phoenix and formed a new partnership in Texas with Ben Brittain, which he called Vision Produce Partners of Texas.

By this time the idea of coalescing the three entities under a common umbrella began to take root.

“Becoming Vision Produce Company is both the culmination of our past changes and the indication of our plan to be ready for the future,” said Mr. Vogel.

Mr. Vogel acknowledged that in 1980 the Tavilla name brought instant credibility to his Los Angeles operation and was very important in its initial growth.

“The Tavillas owned the produce markets in Miami and Houston, and they had a big operation in Boston,” he said.

But the old name no longer represented who the company was, and the tie to the Tavilla family hasn’t been relevant for a very long time.

While the new name represents how the company has evolved over the years and gives direction for the future, Mr. Vogel said that in a practical sense Vision Produce Co. will operate exactly in the same manner as Tavilla Sales Co. come Aug. 13, when the name changes on the building.  

“You can expect the same high standard of service and commitment to excellence,” he said. “There will be no changes in ownership, management, location or contact information.”

Mr. Vogel continued in a letter to his customers: “We are honored to be part of this wonderful produce industry and we are sincerely grateful to our customer and growers. We trust you will find our name change a prudent decision and continue to experience our desire towards the highest standards in our relationship with you.”