Paramount Citrus, a grower, shipper and marketer of fresh citrus in North America, owns over 50,000 acres across California, Texas and Mexico.

“We’re a forward-thinking, dynamic company whose primary aim is to provide our customers with high-quality, fresh citrus products year-round,” said Scott Owens, vice president of sales and marketing. “More than a half-million tons of fresh citrus shipped from around the world is processed at our facilities in California’s San Joaquin Valley, Texas’ Rio Grande Valley and Mexico. Our focus on getting the best citrus to our customers worldwide quickly, means that we’ll continue to invest in your future.”

Paramount Citrus is a one- stop citrus shop. With recent acquisitions of Rio Queen and Healds Valley Farms in 2012, it is also one of the largest growers of Texas citrus.

“Our focus on tightly managing the supply chain from the orchards to the store ensures that our customers receive the best-tasting, freshest citrus available,” Owens said.

Paramount’s customer service team is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and also provides value-added services such as logistics and transportation support, and category management.

The company provides high-quality fresh citrus and works closely with its customers every step of the way from the field to store to support their growth. Its forward distribution in Chicago has rail access and provides its customers with another option when shipping citrus across the country.

Paramount Citrus is a leading supplier of Texas citrus, accounting for over 75 percent of the state’s industry. But it’s not just about quantity.

The Rio Grande Valley in South Texas, where Paramount farms over 10,000 acres, is world-renowned for producing superb red grapefruit, deep in color and deliciously sweet.

Consumers consistently rate Texas red grapefruit number one across all key measures, including taste and sweetness. In fact, Paramount’s research revealed that consumers consider Texas red grapefruit as the best-tasting, most-liked, sweetest grapefruit and the one that they are most likely to buy. Ninety-four percent of taste-test participants liked Texas red grapefruit overall, while 84 percent liked Florida’s.

In addition, Texas red grapefruit had the highest purchase intent at 73 percent vs. Florida’s at 59 percent.

“There are numerous ways for retailers to drive excitement for grapefruit,” said Owens. “For example, promotions keep core consumers happy and provide high volume lifts. When featuring grapefruit in ad programs, retailers can offer bulk and bag options throughout the season to appeal to a broader consumer base. Further, stocking a range of bag sizes will also contribute to capturing a wider consumer base.

“For instance, a five-pound bag is great for awareness and trial, while a 10-pound bag appeals to your habitual grapefruit consumer and helps expand consumption beyond breakfast,” Owens said.

Paramount Citrus has made a commitment to educate consumers about its great-tasting Texas red grapefruit in order to overcome the historical perceptions of the fruit. One vehicle that it’s using is DailySqueeze.com — a great resource for our retail and foodservice partners to utilize as well. The recipes and tips are easily shareable via social media platforms and shows shoppers the versatility of grapefruit.

“We work closely with our customers in category management to develop individualized holistic citrus strategies via an approach called the ‘citrus grove,’” Owens said.

“The citrus grove approach seeks to maximize profit for our retail partners by illuminating the interplay between citrus varieties within their stores and their surrounding market.

“We further augment the strategy with consumer research to provide insights that will increase consumer satisfaction and thus profits. Moreover, we provide merchandising options to further drive excitement for grapefruit,” he added.

So what is Paramount’s promise to its customers? Well, that’s simple — provide the safest, freshest quality citrus today and tomorrow.