While he doesn’t want to discourage the purchase of other varieties, Don Armock, president and partner in Riveridge Produce Marketing, Inc., based in Sparta, MI, admitted that his personal favorite apple variety is Jonagold. “It’s the favorite of people in our packing plant too. I think that says a lot,” he said. The 2013 Jonagold crop in Michigan had an especially good flavor, he added.

The United Vegetable Growers Cooperative recently announced the hiring of its first full-time chief executive officer, Eric Schwartz.

Schwartz is an industry veteran with more than 30 years of experience in fresh, processed and frozen vegetables and fruit, and frozen meals. He also brings a depth of experience in branded and private label products in both domestic and international settings.

The 2013-14 shipping season out of the West Mexico states of Sonora and Sinaloa started slower than normal, and with lighter-than-usual volume, but weekly volumes are expected to return to normal by mid-January, according to Gonzalo Avila, chief executive officer of Malena Produce.

The Produce News spoke with Avila in late-December following his return from a tour of the production areas in Mexico, mainly in southern Sonora and the Culiacan area of Sinaloa.

A Martin’s Super Market in Elkhart, IN, reopened today at noon, less than two days after a shooting in the store took the lives of three people: Krystle Dikes, a store employee; Rachelle Godfread, a customer; and the gunman.

As the firm gets closer to its 10th anniversary, LD Logistics LLC, based in Bronx, NY, continues to hone its offerings and concentrate its business.

“We no longer have any satellite offices,” said Lance Dichter, who wears the general manager title for the company.  “We have concentrated all of our business under one roof, which works better for us.”

For Paul Kazan, who founded Target Interstate Systems Inc. in the Bronx, NY, more than 30 years ago, there is nothing like picking up the phone and talking to a customer or a truck driver.

“I like the personal touch.  With a text or an email they don’t hear the tone of your voice and you don’t know exactly how you come off,” he said.