CHICAGO — When the Auster Co. closed its doors on the Chicago International Produce Market on Jan. 6, 2011, the firm’s next-door neighbor, Panama Banana Distributing Co., jumped on the opportunity to expand its operations.

Auster formal name was Auster Acquisitions LLC, as reported in The Produce News Jan. 16.

LIBERTYVILLE, IL — The produce brokerage Muller Trading Co. Inc. is systematically expanding its national service, according to Mike Fleming, the company’s sales manager.

Mr. Fleming said that the firm now sells “quite a bit to the Southeast and Southwest, but also to the Northwest” regions of the country. “Our goal is the cover the United States in a few years.”

Cermak Produce Inc. is a family business that has grown over the last 30 years from owning and operating one Chicago area retail grocery store to a dozen. Mike Bousis, the company’s owner, said that the produce-oriented retailer does all of its produce buying through Chicago distributors.

Cermak, which is headquartered in Chicago, buys around 50-60 trailerloads of produce a week from the Chicago International Produce Market, or other local distributors, Mr. Bousis told The Produce News in a mid-May telephone interview.

Ready Pac Foods Inc., based in Irwindale, CA, has announced the hiring of Chef Thomas Helsel as its executive research chef. He reports to Sara Samala, research and development manager at Ready Pac Foods.

Formed in 2007, the Associación Mexicana de Horticultura Protegida A.C., headquartered in Culiacan, Sinaloa, and better known by its acronym AMHPAC, is scheduled to hold its fourth annual convention Aug. 24-26 in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico.

Village Farms International Inc., headquartered in Eatontown, NJ, has announced that it is building a new greenhouse in Monahans, TX. It is the fifth greenhouse built by the company in the state, and is based on the firm’s innovative proprietary technology termed “GATES.” The facility is expected to begin production in early 2012.