While any time of the year is a great time for conventional and organic produce favorites, during the winter months, RBest Produce Inc., headquartered in Port Washington, NY, and its sister company, El Sol Brands, in Medley, FL, are continuously stocked with fresh conventional and organic holiday favorites.

To whet any pallet, the companies offer sweet potatoes, celery, varieties of lettuces, apple varieties, cranberries, pomegranates and sweet Florida citruses, to name just a few.

Jasmine Hines, director of marketing and advertising, said that the companies also offer an assortment of seasonal eco-friendly winter items, “such as premium White Birch and kindling firewoods as well as ‘Green’ snow and ice melter brands ‘Blue Heat’ and ‘Keep it Green,’” she noted.

“Our most popular ‘El Sol’ tropical winter items are Dominican sour orange, Ecuador green cooking banana and Costa Rican yautia blanca,” she added.

‘We R Nuts’ holiday platters from RBest Produce make perfect gifts and super-perfect entertainment presentations.Through its brand new snack line “We R Nuts!” the companies offer a wide assortment of fun, fresh and fancy holiday items including pecans, caramelized walnuts, chocolate covered graham crackers and assortment holiday platters.

“’We R Nuts!’ has great sweets and treats for all types of celebrations and gift exchanges,” added Hines. “Our holiday platters are beautifully arranged in a mesh metal display tray that can be used many times after the treats have been enjoyed, and then wrapped with a beautiful organza holiday bow.”

All “We R Nuts!” items, she explained, have the option to be labeled with the company’s logo or its customers’ store logo to help them increase brand awareness.

Hines pointed out that at RBest, supplying produce is just the beginning. The company has a dedicated in-store merchandising team that is experienced at retail counseling to help increase customer sales growth all year-round.

“Our merchandising team assists our customers with product placement, pricing, storage and handling procedures,” she said. “And they make recommendations about product selections. We work with the supermarket produce teams to ensure that their customers have the best possible sales in their produce departments.”

The RBest Produce in-store merchandising team assists its customers with holiday decoration and “dressing up” the produce department.

“Our team has over 30 years of experience with many different and innovative displays to increase our customers’ holiday sales,” said Hines.

“Our holiday crunch begins at mid-November and continues through the New Year,” she added.

In October, RBest Produce and El Sol Brands’ Port Washington, NY, warehouse facility achieved the distinction of Primus Global Food Safety Certification.

“Also in October, RBest and El Sol celebrated its first year anniversary operating from the newly built warehouse facility,” said Hines.

“We started preparing for Primus GFS certification as soon as construction began. RBest maintains strict safety standards and has spent the last year perfecting company procedures,” she added.

The RBest warehouse is constructed with the latest refrigeration technologies. It spans approximately 70,000 square feet and is built with the focus of being environmentally friendly.

“Our facility is fully equipped to support quality fresh produce direct from growers, and will expand with an additional 20,000-square-feet of refrigerated space in the year 2015,” said Philip DelPrete, president of RBest Produce.

“We are committed to food safety and to providing the utmost quality assurance for our customers and for the community,” he continued. “In 2015, RBest Produce plans to expand our warehouse an additional 20,000 square feet of refrigerated space to continuously better serve fresh and healthy produce to the communities of the Northeast.”

“El Sol” brands lays claim to being the largest importer of tropicals to the United States. RBest Produce’s mission is to become the premier produce supplier in the Northeast by fulfilling all of its customers’ needs with offerings of the highest possible quality produce, unwavering reliability and superior customer service.

“Our top priorities are sourcing and delivering only the freshest fruits and vegetables, strategic merchandising and convenience so we can help our customers’ businesses grow,” said Hines. “We’re committed to exceeding expectations at all levels of the industry so that each and every person — from the grower to the consumer — is fully satisfied.”

“’We R Nuts!’ holiday items have been available since November and we will be stocked through Christmas,” Hines continued.

“We are very excited about this new line as it was just launched in the summer of 2014, and this is our first year offering holiday prepackaged dried fruits, dried vegetables, candies, chocolates and, of course, lot of nuts!”