Progressive Produce is making big news in the world of asparagus.
The company has added to its staff of asparagus experts by bringing aboard both produce veterans and recent college graduates who are ready to make their mark. That kind of diversity is needed when dealing with a versatile product like asparagus.
“Asparagus has been part of our commodity offerings since 2006 and has had substantial growth within our company due to the trending high demand from consumers,” said Oscar Guzman, director of marketing and sales for the Los Angeles-based company. “Today, asparagus accounts for one of our largest divisions, which led to us growing our talent of knowledgeable and experienced team members in this growth category.”
The key members of the asparagus team include Cory Stahl, vice president of sales, asparagus division; Don Hessel, vice president of operations – grower relations for the asparagus division; and sales managers Lauren Brierly, Sean Barganski, Andy Webb, Tyler Steele and Andrew Engles.
Progressive will sell asparagus under two labels — Nature’s Bounty Organic and the new Progressive Farms label, the first brand the company has designed under its own name, which is recognized and trusted throughout the industry.
When the nation had sheltered in place, the leaders and staff of Progressive Produce were hard at work making sure people got the healthy foods they needed as they cooked at home more often than ever.
“Progressive’s strong packing and shipping infrastructure and capabilities proved extremely useful when COVID-19 hit in March,” Guzman said.
Scott Leimkuhler, Progressive’s senior vice president of sales, noted that the company’s staff has been fully dedicated to meeting the demand for fresh produce during the pandemic.
“The men and women working in our warehouses around the clock for weeks on end should be extremely proud of what they did to come together and feed a country in need,” he said. “They are our Progressive heroes, and they should be yours, too.”
Then there is Progressive’s commitment to food safety, packaging, and innovation, which are always essential but especially so during the pandemic.
“Even though what’s currently happening is unprecedented, we cannot steer away from the fact that this brought us closer as a team and challenged us to be better,” Guzman said. “We’re dealing with an evolved customer in the wake of this chaos that requires the utmost attention to detail and empathy to understand their needs.”
COVID-19 is also changing the way the PMA Fresh Summit will be held this year, but Guzman expects the impact of the big event to still be significant.
“The important piece is having the industry buy in and participate, particularly vendors, wholesalers, and retailers,” Guzman said. “We think it is very important and that’s why we continue to participate.”
He expects the 2020 Fresh Summit to be very productive.
“We’re inviting Fresh Summit attendees to ‘travel’ with us as we show off our different growing regions in North and South America that help us supply asparagus year-round to our customers,” Guzman said.
With the help of the AI built into the Fresh Summit platform, the Progressive Produce team expects to be able to direct good traffic to their booth.
“By now, people have had some experience with virtual shows and how to navigate them, so we’re looking forward to more meetings,” Guzman said.
October 05, 2020 at 10:37PM
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Progressive Produce builds on its asparagus team | Produce News - TheProduceNews.com
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