Vision Import Group LLC, headquartered in River Edge, NJ, opened its Lakeland, FL, office in August 2013. The company hired Bruce Letchworth to oversee sales. A long-time retail professional, Letchworth was previously with Supervalu and prior to that with Publix Super Markets and Save-a-lot, making him a perfect candidate to work with retail sales customers in the Southeast. He is joined in sales at the Southeast branch of Vision by Lindsay Love, who also previously worked for Supervalu. Love also assists in administrative tasks at the office.

Louis Hymel, director of purchasing and marketing for Spice World Inc., headquartered in Orlando, FL, said the company is eagerly anticipating the Southeast Produce Council’s 2014 Southern Exposure annual conference and expo. The event will be held Feb. 27 to March 1 at the Caribe Royale Conference Center and Hotel in Orlando.

Stemilt’s premium river valley pear program helped the industry achieve huge category increases through the first four months of the season, according to the company’s recent analysis of retail scan data from Nielsen Perishables Group.

D’Anjou pears were up 24 percent in volume and nearly 26 percent in dollar sales year over year according to national composite data from September through December 2013. Other key pear varieties, including Red d’Anjou, Bartlett and Bosc, also realized increases in both categories.

The Greek economy was ravaged by World War I. In 1922, Michael Chrysantaki, a 16-year-old boy, left his family and home in the town of Levidi in the mountainous Peloponnese region of southern Greece.  This is where the cities of Sparta and Olympia flourished in ancient times.   

Little did Michael know that his step aboard a ship in the port of Piraeus was the first step toward what would become, via a radically unlikely journey, a trendsetting produce company in Mexico called Wholesum Family Farms Inc.   

Bi-Lo Holdings LLC, the parent of BI-LO and Winn Dixie grocery store chains, has agreed to sell 12 supermarkets in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that its proposed $265 million acquisition of 154 stores from Delhaize America would harm competition in several local markets in those states.

Produce for Kids, an organization dedicated to educating families on the benefits of healthy eating, providing simple meal solutions and raising money for childrens's non-profit organizations, is sponsoring the upcoming meeting of the Eastern Produce Council.