In 2000, Nick Bozick, the president of Richard Bagdasarian Inc., based in Mecca, CA, and his Vice President of Marketing, Franz DeKlotz, launched Pasha Marketing as a vegetable entity to complement their grape and citrus lines.

“It continues to be a profitable business,” said DeKlotz in mid-April as the company was launching its 15th year and 30th season in the vegetable growing and shipping business. “We have two distinct seasons (each year),” said DeKlotz.

The three professions listed in the headline above may not seem as if they are related, but they were the path Steve Root, president of East West Unlimited LLC, in Coachella, CA, took to his current perch as a grower-shipper of table grapes in California’s Coachella Valley.

Root grew up in the valley in Indio, CA, and went to high school at Coachella Valley High School. He excelled at football, which led to a spot on the roster at the University of Alabama where he played linebacker under the legendary Bear Bryant.

Wegmans Food Markets Inc. confirmed that the family-owned supermarket chain plans to build two stores in the suburbs of Richmond, VA. The stores will be similar in size and design to Wegmans’ current Virginia stores, which range in size from 120,000 to 140,000 square feet.

Orange, CA-based Interfresh Inc., a national supplier of fruits and vegetables, announced the addition of Steven Beyer to its sales staff in Vernon, CA.

RIO RICO, AZ — Conventional watermelon sales of SunFed Produce, LLC, outnumber by a ten-to-one ration the volume of the firm’s “SunFed Perfect Organic” watermelon brand, according to Matt Mandel, who handles sales and marketing for the family owned firm.

While SunFed’s conventional watermelon program is “doing very, very well,” the organic watermelon label is enjoying a much faster growth rate.

In its cherry program, The Flavor Tree Fruit Co. LLC, exclusive sales agent for Warmerdam Packing in Hanford, CA, is best known for its proprietary Sequoia cherry variety. The company also has other varieties, but the focus is on proprietary varieties, according to Maurice Cameron, managing partner.

“Predominantly, our trend for our company is to be in proprietary varietals,” Cameron said. Currently “we have a new one coming up the pipeline.” It has been planted and is expected to be in production in sufficient numbers by next year to be introduced to the marketplace.