Alvaro Luque: Believe in Marketing

Alvaro Luque
President and CEO

I had been a CPG guy for many, many years when I got a call that they were looking for this position at Avocados from Mexico. And at the beginning, I was a little surprised that I was called into produce. I didn’t know much about produce, but once I knew about the opportunity and understood how produce works, I’ve been a lover of the industry ever since. It’s been 11 years now, and I’m happy to be here, hopefully, for many, many, many years to come.

When I started at Avocados from Mexico, I didn’t know much about the industry, and I had to deal with two big associations: the APEAM in Mexico, which includes thousands of growers and packers, and the MHAIA in the U.S., which has more than 200 importers. So, I was a little overwhelmed, thinking, “How am I going to deal with so many people?” But they had this joint executive committee of eight people who really were the ones that I reported to, four from Mexico, four from the U.S., and those guys are my mentors. I learned everything about the avocado business and about the produce business, from these eight great guys, some of them still with us on the boards. And it’s eight people that I will never forget in my career.

My passion is to make everyone understand how important marketing is for produce. I think that produce is an amazing industry. We do so many things to grow, develop, transport, sell amazing fruits and veggies in the U.S., but I don’t think that we do much to market them to the consumer. And Avocados from Mexico has been trying to do that, to bring these last pieces of the puzzle, and try to make produce believe that marketing dollars go a long way. And we’ve been able to create a brand. We’ve been able to double the Avocados from Mexico industry.

Believe in marketing, and that’s my passion for every single day.