WATSONVILLE, CA - Over a month ago, California Giant Berry Farms announced it was expanding its raspberry program to bring the delicious fruit to retailers, foodservice operators, and consumers year-round. To find out more about the company’s latest growth efforts involving one of my favorite fruits (Ssh! Don’t tell the other fruits), I chatted with Cindy Jewell, Vice President of Marketing, about the upcoming expansion kicking off this fall.

“For the first time at California Giant, we’re going to have year-round raspberry production to offer our retail and foodservice customers. There’s such a demand for companies like ours to have all four berries all year long,” Cindy shared with me. “We’ve been working really hard on our other berries: strawberries, blueberries, and blackberries, to really meet that goal. And we’ve finally found the right variety and the right location to expand our raspberry program.”

For its expanded raspberry program, California Giant found a few growing districts through central Mexico that vibe well with the fruit. As a result, the company will no longer have to rely only on its California growing regions to satisfy sweet, fruity cravings that come in the colder months.

Cindy also told me about Tour de Fresh and the buzz of excitement that is already aflutter for the upcoming ride—both this year’s and next!

“Since we’re kind of home for Tour de Fresh, we get a lot of riders that are riding next month coming by to visit. We have a lot of people that have already tried to sign up for 2019,” Cindy said. “It’s kind of like a little home that we provide for people who are either sponsors or riding in Tour de Fresh or interested in learning more about it.”

To hear from Cindy herself, watch the video above. And to continue to stay up-to-date on the goings on in produce, keep reading AndNowUKnow.

California Giant Berry Farms