RETAIL VIEW: Niche marketing taking hold with traditional retailers
Over the past year, The Produce News has run numerous stories about traditional retailers diversifying and entering into different niche markets or reinventing themselves in one way or another. -- Dick's Supermarkets in Wisconsin and Illinois launched an extensive promotion campaign redesigning and touting its produce departments. -- Sixty-eight Food Lion stores in the Charlotte, NC, area are being remodeled and redesigned to tailor their offerings to fit customers' specific needs.
Pompano State Farmers Market slated for hurricane repairs in the near future
Don Coker, chief of state markets for the Florida Department of Agriculture & Consumer Affairs, oversees the state's 13 farmers markets. He said that the Pompano State Farmers Market had about $70,000 in damage caused by Hurricane Wilma last October.
"The majority of the damage was to the old administration building, and most was to the roof," he said. "We have patched it up temporarily, and as soon as FEMA comes through with funding, the permanent repairs will be underway."
Long-time retail produce executive joins J&D Produce
Ken Green, who spent most of his produce career with the Great A&P Tea Co. Inc., based in Montvale, NJ, has joined J&D Produce Inc. in Edinburg, TX.
Mr. Green said that he was looking for an opportunity with a "quality firm with a high degree of ethical standards. I contacted Jimmy Bassetti, who I have known for a long time, and told him I was looking at the supplier community."
Shortly thereafter, the two men had a deal that will allow Mr. Green to work for the Texas shipper from his New Jersey location.
Seald-Sweet taps Bill Weyland to lead import program
Foreign citrus suppliers likely will recognize his name and face, but they might do a double-take when he mentions his company.
Bill Weyland, well known in the produce industry and who most recently worked for DNE World Fruit Sales in Fort Pierce, FL, has been named director of imports at Seald-Sweet International. Mr. Weyland, who joined the Vero Beach, FL-based company March 27, will remain in New Jersey and head a marketing office in the New Brunswick area in the central part of the state.
Salvatore De Franco, partner in D. De Franco & Sons, dies at 81
Salvatore (Sam) De Franco, who was a partner with his brothers for many years in the produce company his father founded, died of heart failure April 2 at his home in Los Angeles. He was 81.
Mr. De Franco was born May 24, 1924 in San Francisco. In 1929, his family moved to Boston, where his father, Dominic De Franco, founded the New England Tomato Co. A few years later, the family returned to California and settled in Lodi, where they began shipping table grapes to the Eastern Seaboard.
Washington asparagus: Less acreage planted but big increase in volume expected
ELTOPIA, WA -- With fresh asparagus acreage in Mexico down by double-digit percentage points, and cool rainy weather flummoxing some California growers early this season, Washington state's estimated 33 percent increase in volume could be met by solid demand and good prices.
Two new hires at Crown Jewels Marketing
FRESNO, CA -- Crown Jewels Marketing & Distribution, here, has recently expanded its staff with the addition of Robbie Mathias and Leslie Telles, both of whom come from families that are heavily involved in the U.S. produce business.
Mr. Mathias is the son of Rob Mathias, president of Crown Jewels. Another uncle, Ryan Mathias, also works for Crown Jewels. Another uncle, Rodney Mathias, works for a tomato company, and his grandfather, Rich Mathias, is a buyer for Sobey's.
Oppenheimer turns up the volume on Jazz apples
A record volume of Enza's Jazz apples has topped the Vancouver, BC-based Oppenheimer Group's list of highlights for the New Zealand pipfruit season, which is now underway.
Despite anticipating nearly double the 2005 Jazz volume, Oppenheimer Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer John Anderson believes that supply will still not satisfy demand.
Market Fresh Produce owner takes on two equal partners
Market Fresh Produce LLC in Lee's Summit, MO, has announced a new partnership structure between Anthony Totta and Steve Phipps and Jim Cipriano. Mr. Totta previously held full ownership of the company, but now the three partners hold equal shares of the firm. The new management team brings years of industry experience with it, which will be instrumental in MFP reaching the goals it has set for its future.
Produce industry awaits WIC proposal
WASHINGTON -- A long-awaited proposal that is expected to add fruits and vegetables to the federal voucher program for low-income women and children was expected in January, then the produce industry was told in the spring, and now it may not surface until summer. Every month the proposal is delayed, advocates for an updated WIC package get nervous.