Kroger produce executive named president of Central Division
The Kroger Co. announced the promotion of Jeff Burt as president of the company's Central Division.
Mr. Burt, 50, has been group vice president of perishables merchandising and procurement since 2010. He succeeds Bob Moeder, who recently announced his plans to retire this spring.
Gargiulo to close California farm and packing facility
Gargiulo Inc. will close its tomato farm and packing facility in Somis, CA, the company announced in a Jan. 31 letter to Ventura County officials.
Gargiulo's Somis plant has 486 farm operation workers employed as farm managers, pickers, spray applicators and mechanics who will lose their jobs, according to the letter to the Ventura County Board of Supervisors announcing the closure, which will be effective April 1. Additionally, the company, which is headquartered in Naples, FL, has 191 employees in the Somis packing operation who are expected to be laid off.
Mike George joins Quality Packing & Shipping
Stockton, CA-based Quality Packing & Shipping hired MIKE GEORGE as sales and marketing manager in November.
In his new position, he handles custom packing, all sizes and varieties of potatoes (specializing in Bs, creamers and fingerlings) and mix fruit apple-orange packs. Mr. George also grows and packs hard shell squash and cherries (organic and conventional) in season.
Farm Fresh in full gear with strong export market from its new location
“Soft pricing is a tricky topic,” Steven Ceccarelli, co-owner with his wife, Bethany, of Farm Fresh Produce in Faison, NC, told The Produce News. “It is normal for someone to undercut the market, but it hurts everyone. Market prices this year should certainly be better. Although January is always a little slower for domestic sales, and that is expected this time of year.”
However, things kick off on the export side in January, and that’s where Farm Fresh Produce kicks in. The company is very strong in exports, and Mr. Ceccarelli said he is very happy to report this news.
HLB Specialties offers high-quality papayas with highest level of papaya-know-how
Melissa Hartmann DeBarros, director of communication for HLB Specialties, headquartered in Pompano Beach, FL, told The Produce News that although the company handles several offshore products, it’s strength is in papayas.
Snow storm disrupts New England produce trade
A major winter storm whipped through the Northeast Feb. 8, dumping up to three feet of snow in parts of New England and disrupting produce distribution in the area.
Skip Cavallaro, president of John Cerasuolo Co. Inc., located on the New England Produce Center in Boston, told The Produce News Feb. 11 that people in the area were concentrating on getting things cleaned up.
Supervalu heading in new direction
With the recent announcement that it is selling almost 900 of its stores to an investor group, Supervalu Inc. has articulated a new strategy that has it concentrating its efforts in three distinct business segments.
In late January, its new senior management told investors and lenders that those three sectors are its discount Save-A-Lot brand, its wholesale distribution operation and its five remaining traditional supermarket chains — Cub Foods, Shop ‘n Save, Farm Fresh, Shoppers and Hornbacher’s — that are all regional in nature.
Chelan Fresh hires Paeton Bangart
PAETON BANGART joined Chelan, WA-based Chelan Fresh Marketing in December.
In his new role at Chelan Fresh, Mr. Bangart will handle a full line of domestic sales.
Prior to joining the company, he owned a winery and vineyard in Chelan that he ran full time for the past five years.
Mr. Bangart has been working in the produce industry on and off for the past 20 years. His family has been farming in the valley for over 80 years. When he was younger, Mr. Bangart said he would spend the summers working in his grandfather’s orchard.
Big Chuy expects volume to remain light, prices high, into March
Currently, “watermelons are light coming out of Mexico, and it will be like that, I think, for the next month-and-a-half,” said Jesus (Chuy) Lopez, president of Big Chuy Distributors & Sons Inc. in Nogales, AZ, in an interview with The Produce News Jan. 25.
Well-Pict adjusts varieties to stagger production peaks in different districts
Well-Pict Inc. in Watsonville, CA, which grows strawberries in several districts in California as well as in Baja California, Mexico, has developed a family of proprietary varieties that not only have desirable characteristics, but are also particularly suited to the districts in which they are grown and to the desired market timing.
According to Sales Manager Dan Crowley, the company’s 269 variety has long been “our horse in Oxnard, and we continue to have it that way.” But there have been some changes this season in the varieties being grown in Baja and in Santa Maria.