Los Angeles: Gateway to a World of Produce

This diverse city is the nation’s hub for produce from Latin America and Asia.

When Sharon and Joe Hernandez started their modest specialty produce business in 1984, they could only afford to rent a small warehouse lunchroom with four chairs and three telephones. They named their business, which sold produce to Southern California retailers and restaurants, after their young daughter Melissa.

Today, Melissa’s/World Variety Produce, Inc. has grown to occupy a 330,000-square-foot facility in Los Angeles, CA, and is reputedly the largest distributor of specialty produce in the country.

Los Angeles’ diversity made it a natural place to build a specialty produce business.

“His family had been in the produce business in El Paso, and when they came over to the Los Angeles area, they wanted to grow their family and their business here,” says Robert Schueller, director of public relations for Melissa’s. “It’s been over 40 years that Melissa’s has been in business. The Los Angeles market was such a multicultural community.”

ETHNIC RETAIL BOOM

The 4.8 million Latino residents of Los Angeles County are more than the entire populations of Chicago, Detroit, St. Louis and Boston combined, and the Asian American population of 1.5 million is three times the entire population of Miami.

Numerous large and thriving independent supermarket chains serve the enormous ethnic populations.
In July, Superior Grocers acquired the 22-store independent chain Numero Uno. The deal gave Hispanic warehouse giant Superior 69 stores in the Southern California area.

Southern California-based Vallarta Supermarkets has grown to 55 stores throughout California, and Ontario, CA-based Cardenas Markets has grown to 58 stores in California, Nevada and Arizona.

There are also numerous Southern California-based independent chains catering largely to Asian American consumers. For example, the 40-year-old Tawa Supermarket Inc. has grown to 54 stores, serving customers in 10 states.

The plethora of independent stores has kept the world of produce retailing diverse in this age of corporate consolidation.

“Retail consolidation has changed the landscape dramatically versus 10 or 20 years ago, when a larger number of retail buyers frequented the market,” says Carrie LaLonde, chief executive of Valley Fruit and Produce, Los Angeles, CA. “The customer base has changed, but there are still many small, independent markets and independent foodservice companies that buy off the market to compete with the larger chains.”

Valley Fruit and Produce has 165,000 feet of refrigerated space in the Los Angeles area, and is the largest distributor in the Los Angeles Wholesale Produce Market. The century-old company serves customers throughout California, Arizona, Nevada, Utah and Idaho.

“In our LA Market location, we service independent retailers, foodservice purveyors and neighboring distributors. Valley operates the majority of its business out of our warehouse a few blocks away in the Alameda Trade Center,” says LaLonde. “As a whole company, Valley serves three primary sales distribution channels, including retail, foodservice and K-12 schools. Continental Export is our export division that services customers by air and sea.”

As the United States grows more diverse, Los Angeles is a natural breeding ground for meteoric growth of produce distributors meeting the shifting needs of the changing population.

GATEWAY TO US

Barely more than 100 miles north of Mexico, and other sources of fruits and vegetables from Latin America, Los Angeles also has the nation’s largest port, which offers access to foods from Asia.

The 7,500-acre Port of Los Angeles, with 43 miles of waterfront, is the largest container port in the country, with seven major container terminals. And it is adjacent to the Port of Long Beach, a 3,200-acre facility with 25 miles of waterfront. These two ports also have access to the Alameda Corridor, a 20-mile rail system that connects the ports to the nation’s major rail shippers.

Interstate Highway 5 connects Los Angeles to the farms of the state’s Central Valley, points north, and goes south as far as the Mexican border.

GROWTH AND EVOLUTION

Valley Fruit has expanded its selections to serve diverse markets. “I can speak for Valley’s lineup and how it has evolved over the last 10 years,” says LaLonde. “Now, we carry over 300 organic SKUs, specialty and exotic fruits and vegetables. These are changes that reflect consumer demand, and our desire to offer a more comprehensive lineup to our various customer segments.”

Melissa’s is not the only specialty produce wholesaler to flourish in Los Angeles after humble beginnings — Coosemans Worldwide Inc. began with produce sold to Southern California restaurants out of the trunk of a Cadillac.

In the late 1970s, diamond importer Herman Van den Broeck responded to a slump in the diamond business by importing Belgian endives, which he sold directly to high-end restaurants in the greater Los Angeles area out of the back of his Cadillac. That endive operation was the beginning of Coosemans, a global specialty produce importing company with 22 locations around the world.

“Its diversity and economics made Los Angeles favorable to exotic and specialty produce,” says Alan Pollack, who was with Van den Broeck at the beginning, and still serves as general manager of Coosemans Los Angeles. “That made Los Angeles a good place to start Coosemans, and it is still true today.”

Some Los Angeles-based wholesalers thrive by serving specific ethnic markets.

“There is a large Latino population in Los Angeles, and we are near the border,” says Erick Carranza, sales manager for EV Produce International, San Ysidro, CA. “Los Angeles and Texas are where we sell.”

EV Produce imports and ships limes and chayote, which is a gourd widely used in Latin cuisine. “All of it is from Mexico,” says Carranza.

HOUSING CRUNCH, PRODUCE BOOM

The high cost of living and housing are reshaping who can live in Los Angeles, and who cannot. In 2022, the cost of living was rated as ‘very high’ compared to the average in the U.S. The median price for a house or condo was more than $900,000, which was high even by California standards, and the median gross rent was nearly $1,800 a month.

These high housing costs are the main reason 75,000 people left the city in 2023.

While the population may be declining, Los Angeles’ role as a produce hub is enjoying a revival. “Los Angeles is a consolidation hub for a major part of the country,” says Francisco Clouthier, owner of Maui-Fresh International, Los Angeles, CA. “In the last five years, we’ve seen more companies coming to Los Angeles for consolidation. Los Angeles is getting back to what it was. It’s a one-stop shop instead of having to send your trucks to Mexico, the Central Valley and Canada.”

“Los Angeles is getting back to what it was. It’s a one-stop shop, instead of having to send your trucks to Mexico, the Central Valley and Canada.”
— Francisco Clouthier, Maui-Fresh International, Los Angeles, CA

The Clouthier family started farming tomatoes and peppers in the Sinaloa Valley 60 years ago, and Clouthier started Maui Fresh at the Los Angeles Wholesale Produce Market 20 years ago.

While the company is true to its name, with Hawaiian papayas and pineapples, Maui Fresh has a line of fresh produce with a distinct Hispanic flavor, including tomatillos, limes, eggplants, chiles, bell peppers, squash, tomatoes, beans, melons and pickles.

“The Los Angeles market is a produce hub for the entire country, with Los Angeles International Airport, Union Station and the Los Angeles Harbor,” says Schueller. “And California is one of the few places you can grow 12 months of the year.”

“With the LA Market’s proximity to the ports and freeways, and the concentration and diversity of the supply base in Los Angeles, it is a key hub in the produce supply chain,” says LaLonde. “I think the market is more diverse, as the number of tenants has increased over the years. It used to be occupied by mostly owner-operators, and now most of the owners sublet to a higher number of operators, which results in greater diversity of products offered and customer segments served.”

But even shippers who serve the entire country also find major markets in the Los Angeles metropolitan area.

“About 50% of our produce stays in Southern California,” says Clouthier. “You have 15 million people in the area, plus San Diego, Ventura and Santa Barbara. That’s 20 million people.”