Fruitnet podcasts

Labelling Natoora as the world’s first vertically integrated global greengrocer might not be completely accurate, but for founder and CEO Franco Fubini it’s a description that is not completely wide of the mark.

“We’re not massive fans of the word greengrocer, but I think you’re right,” says Franco Fubini. “We’re trying to build a company that can deliver through very unique and transparent supply chains a level of trust and confidence to consumers around the quality of the fresh produce that they buy, both in terms of flavour and in terms of nutritional density. We feel there is the opportunity and scale to do this across the world.”

In the past decade and a half, Fubini and his colleagues have taken what began as an online farmers market and transformed it into a producer, importer, supplier, distributor, retailer and brand marketer – in short, a vertically integrated fresh produce company that aims to bring its diversity of range, quality and flavour to customers and consumers wherever they need it.

Focusing exclusively on provenance and seasonality, Natoora’s raison d’être has always been to source seasonal products and deliver them to consumers via sustainable supply chains. Staying true to that ethos, the group has been able to carve itself a niche at the very top end of the market. “It fits a growing need,” Fubini explains during his conversation with Fruitbox host Chris White. “There’s a consumer out there that is looking for something of higher flavour, particularly when it comes to fruits.”

The success of that approach over the past decade and a half has seen the company set up operations in New York, Paris, Barcelona, Los Angeles and London, where it has five of its own upmarket greengrocer outlets. Now there is talk of further expansion for the firm in places like Tokyo too. Plus, it has also managed to convince retailers like Waitrose, Whole Foods and Ocado to stock its branded products. No mean feat for a fresh produce company with its origins firmly rooted in the wholesale trade.

Hosted by Chris White in London, Fruitbox now attracts a big audience across the global fruit and vegetable business that tunes every week to hear exclusive interviews and expert analysis.

Produced by Fruitnet Media International, the show is essential listening for everyone in the fresh produce industry.

To find out how you can tell your story on Fruitbox, email [email protected].

To learn about sponsorship and advertising opportunities, email [email protected].

Read the latest fresh produce industry news at www.fruitnet.com

Linda Carobbi has witnessed first-hand the huge impact that the Covid crisis has had on the fresh produce business. As corporate director for fresh fruit at Savino Del Bene, the logistics and supply chain specialist based in Florence, Italy, she says has seen a dramatic shift in the way supply lines are managed and the technologies being used.

With capacity tightening and costs rising, the whole business of shipping fruit and veg from point A to point B has become more complicated, more challenging and more costly than ever before.

“There is no doubt that Covid had an impact in the entire global supply chain [that was] maybe never seen before,” she tells Fruitnet’s Chris White in the latest episode of Fruitbox. “It could be negative or positive, depending on the viewpoint, but for sure it was, and is, challenging.”

For Carobbi, the key word appears to be acceleration. Trends that were bubbling under before the pandemic, like a move to online ordering, have been far more pronounced. Similarly, the uptake of new methods of distribution – for example, this involving advanced systems like blockchain – appear to have been fast-tracked by the crisis.

“Covid-19 for sure favoured this digital transformation,” she explains. “Digitalisation has been identified as a tool to improve and facilitate accessibility to ports and terminals, to avoid long queues of trucks waiting to enter or go out from the terminal.”

Hosted by Chris White in London, Fruitbox now attracts a big audience across the global fruit and vegetable business that tunes every week to hear exclusive interviews and expert analysis.

Produced by Fruitnet Media International, the show is essential listening for everyone in the fresh produce industry.

To find out how you can tell your story on Fruitbox, email [email protected].

To learn about sponsorship and advertising opportunities, email [email protected].

Read the latest fresh produce industry news at www.fruitnet.com

FPJ Stories is the talkshow series in which contributing editor Michael Barker chats in depth to leading industry figures about their life, career, inspirations and hobbies.

Inspired by the hugely popular Life Stories segment at FPJ Live, this video and podcast series gives unique access into the lives of some of the most charismatic and fascinating figures working in the fresh produce industry today.

In Episode Four, Michael talks to Dan Parker, chief executive of Veg Power, about the extraordinary success of the campaign, how it hopes to move to the next level, and Parker's own unusual journey from junk food marketer to passionate advocate of healthy eating.

www.fpj.co.uk

Music: Welcome to the Show by Kevin MacLeod

Link: incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4614-we…-to-the-show

License: creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Mike Port is the chief executive of Port International, the Hamburg-based importer which recently took up the challenge of tackling climate change. Tomorrow marks exactly one year since the company started marketing CO2-neutral bananas under a new brand called Be Climate, a move that Port believes brings new value to a product that is renowned for its slim margins and frequently used as a weapon of choice among retailers engaging in price wars.

“Every Be Climate banana has a QR code, so the consumers with their mobile phones can find out very easily that, by buying one kilo of bananas, they have compensated 940g of CO2,” he explains during the latest episode of Fruitnet’s conversation series Fruitbox. “But it’s not only showing them how much CO2 they balance. It also shows in a very transparent way what they have done with it.”

Port accepts that no single company can fight climate change on its own. “We cannot do everything but we have made a start, showing consumers and our partners that we have projects where we reduce emissions and for the rest we are balancing by investing in offset projects,” he argues.

So are retailers changing their attitude to the banana market? Are they buying into the idea of the fruit’s potential added value? The answer, says Port, is certainly not all of them, although he notes that Belgian supermarket chain Delhaize recently replaced its premium range with Be Climate and subsequently sold more bananas under the brand.

“Covid hasn’t helped,” he admits. “I see a tendency towards the race to the bottom and who has the most competitive bananas on the shelf, because consumers obviously are quite sensitive and they like to buy cheap bananas. In the future, they are afraid about what’s going to happen. So unfortunately the price fighter will [still] play a role. However, I believe that there will also be a lot of consumers who will focus on values and who are prepared to pay for quality, organics, fair trade and also lately for stopping climate change.”

The important lesson, he notes, is to build a narrative around the value you are trying to secure. “If you can put a story behind a brand, or a special quality, or a new variety, then there will be consumers and supermarkets giving you a chance with this product, because it sells.”

Hosted by Chris White in London, Fruitbox now attracts a big audience across the global fruit and vegetable business that tunes every week to hear exclusive interviews and expert analysis.

Produced by Fruitnet Media International, the show is essential listening for everyone in the fresh produce industry.

To find out how you can tell your story on Fruitbox, email [email protected].

To learn about sponsorship and advertising opportunities, email [email protected].

Read the latest fresh produce industry news at www.fruitnet.com

David Alba is a firm believer in the value of innovation as a driver of new business. As director of Valencia-based Genesis Innovation Group, a division of leading Spanish fresh produce business AM Fresh, he spearheads the company’s development of new citrus varieties, helping it to introduce even better types of fruit that will ensure the value of what it offers the market continues to grow.

“We wanted to go all the way from seed to shelf,” he explains in the latest episode of Fruitbox, Fruitnet’s weekly series of conversations about the international fresh fruit and vegetable business. “So not only do we grow, pick and pack citrus for our customers, now we also develop our own varieties to complete the whole cycle.”

So what kind of new citrus varieties are needed for today’s customers? “Nowadays the market drivers are far more sophisticated than before. Flavour and colour are still very important quality attributes, of course, but consumer demands are also focused on things like shape, size, peelability, seedlessness, juice content, texture, the whole eating experience,” Alba tells Fruitbox host Chris White. “And there also important points like shelflife, healthy attributes and nutritional content, whether the fruit has been grown according to the right ethical and environmental standards.”

During the episode, Alba goes on to discuss various topics, including the potential for developing more customised products, balancing the needs of growers with commercial imperatives, making citrus production more sustainable, and combating the global coronavirus pandemic.

Hosted by Chris White in London, Fruitbox now attracts a big audience across the global fruit and vegetable business that tunes every week to hear exclusive interviews and expert analysis.

Produced by Fruitnet Media International, the show is essential listening for everyone in the fresh produce industry.

To find out how you can tell your story on Fruitbox, email [email protected].

To learn about sponsorship and advertising opportunities, email [email protected].

Read the latest fresh produce industry news at www.fruitnet.com

John Hey knows the Asian fresh produce market almost like the back of his hand. As editorial director for Fruitnet in Asia, he’s seen some major changes to the way the market – or that collection of extremely varied markets – works, particularly in the past six months as a result of the Covid-19 crisis.

“The pandemic has really been a catalyst for change in shopping behaviour,” he tells Chris White during the latest episode of Fruitnet’s conversation series Fruitbox. “Wet markets have been heavily impacted by Covid restrictions, like social distancing and shorter operating hours, and some consumers have stayed away due to hygiene and food safety fears.”

Modern retail formats like supermarkets have certainly benefited from that shift, but Hey believes the most significant growth is elsewhere. “The headline trend we’ve seen is online and digital channels growing their share of fresh produce sales,” he notes. “Pre-pandemic, China was already blazing a trail in the digitalisation of food retail with the integration of online and offline, but Covid has really accelerated the trend there.”

Plus there have been other interesting developments in other parts of the supply chain, including producers and importers developing their own innovative and ingenious ways of reaching consumers. “That’s a trend I think that we will likely see grow.”

During this specially extended episode of Fruitbox, Hey takes us through a whistlestop tour of Asian markets, summing up the various trends, challenges and opportunities that exist for fresh fruit and vegetable suppliers and buyers.

Hosted by Chris White in London, Fruitbox now attracts a big audience across the global fruit and vegetable business that tunes every week to hear exclusive interviews and expert analysis.

Produced by Fruitnet Media International, the show is essential listening for everyone in the fresh produce industry.

To find out how you can tell your story on Fruitbox, email [email protected].

To learn about sponsorship and advertising opportunities, email [email protected].

Read the latest fresh produce industry news at www.fruitnet.com

The first day of October 2020 was a busy and exciting one for Mike Browne, chief operating officer at Mission Produce. The company made history by listing on US stock exchange the Nasdaq, with an initial public offering aimed at raising a potential US$100m. And as more and more markets open to an increasing number of suppliers around the world, the prospects for those investors who buy into what some regard as green gold seem especially strong.

In episode 40 of Fruitbox, Fruitnet’s Chris White talks to Browne about what the IPO means for Mission itself and for the avocado business as a whole. “It gives Mission a lot of opportunity to do more of what we already do,” Browne comments. “As a leader in the business, we’re laser-focused on fresh avocados. We’re going to continue to innovate, and continue to find ways to get the freshest, most wholesome avocados ripened correctly and to consumers.”

For Browne and his colleagues, receiving an injection of investment backing will give the company even more capacity to explore new commercial avenues faster – for example opening new markets or developing new sources of supply. “It’s going to give us a lot of flexibility to grow the company, to have more elasticity within the company, to have a responsible balance sheet, and to continue doing what we’ve done – to innovate not only in the distribution but also in the farming and vertically integrate,” says Browne. “We’re one of the largest growers of avocados in the world and we’re going to continue to grow more globally.”

Hosted by Chris White in London, Fruitbox now attracts a big audience across the global fruit and vegetable business that tunes every week to hear exclusive interviews and expert analysis.

Produced by Fruitnet Media International, the show is essential listening for everyone in the fresh produce industry.

To find out how you can tell your story on Fruitbox, email [email protected].

To learn about sponsorship and advertising opportunities, email [email protected].

Read the latest fresh produce industry news at www.fruitnet.com

FPJ Stories is the talkshow series in which contributing editor Michael Barker chats in depth to leading industry figures about their life, career, inspirations and hobbies.

Inspired by the hugely popular Life Stories segment at FPJ Live, this video and podcast series gives unique access into the worlds of some of the most charismatic and fascinating figures working in the fresh produce industry today.

In Episode Three, Michael talks to Caroline Drummond, Chief Executive of LEAF, about 30 years of the sustainable farming organisation, her views of climate change, nutrition and education as well as her personal battle with cancer.

www.fpj.co.uk

Music: Welcome to the Show by Kevin MacLeod

Link: incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4614-we…-to-the-show

License: creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

In the latest edition of Fruitbox, host Chris White speaks to Mike Knowles, editorial director for Europe at Fruitnet Media, and to Maura Maxwell, Fruitnet’s Latin America and Spain editor, about the ongoing challenges faced by the European fresh fruit and veg business as a result of the Covid crisis.

You may recall that Mike and Maura were the first ever guests on episode one of Fruitbox, which launched as a new format just as Europe was coming to terms with the full implications of the pandemic.

Having reported back then on some startling new features emerging in the retail and foodservice markets, this time they look forward and consider the longer-term implications for fresh produce suppliers and marketers as a result of trends such as online ordering, home delivery, meal kits and box schemes, and the continued depression in out-of-home eating.

They also give their take on what the changing market dynamics will mean further down the line for key fruit and veg suppliers across Europe. Demand has been high over the past six months but there are indications that the inevitable global recession is already beginning to bite, with worrying signs of less commercial breathing space for things like new product development, consumer engagement and value-added items at the top end of the market.

And then of course there’s Brexit…

Hosted by Chris White in London, Fruitbox now attracts a big audience across the global fruit and vegetable business that tunes every week to hear exclusive interviews and expert analysis.

Produced by Fruitnet Media International, the show is essential listening for everyone in the fresh produce industry.

To find out how you can tell your story on Fruitbox, email [email protected].

To learn about sponsorship and advertising opportunities, email [email protected].

Read the latest fresh produce industry news at www.fruitnet.com

David Marguleas is chief executive officer of Sun World International, a leading developer of new table grape and stonefruit varieties based in California, US.

With a portfolio of premium varieties now being grown in an increasing number of new places around the globe, the enormous opportunities emerging for the group in terms of those products’ considerable market potential are, Marguleas admits, accompanied by major new challenges on the production side.

Chief among those challenges is labour, be it the cost or indeed availability of workers to harvest and handle the fruit. “We’ve been struggling on these issues of availability of labour as well as increasing labour costs – particularly on these highly labour-intensive crops, like grapes, berries and stonefruit that are so dependent on the timely availability of people to harvest and produce them,” Marguleas explains. “But also the increasing cost in a number of places like the US, southern Europe and Australia, where the cost of these crops and actually getting them off the tree or the vine in a timely manner and into a coldstorage facility and through the supply chain is increasingly prohibitive.”

For Marguleas, one important response has to be to invest in more advanced technology. “In particular, we think [there is a] need for more significant automation – not just in the packhouses but certainly in the fields – and looking at robotic harvesting capabilities for many of these labour-intensive and perishable crops,” he tells Fruitbox host Chris White. “So we’re excited about expansion not only of new growing locations but also new technologies that enable that and also new varieties that allow for the production of varieties that previously couldn’t be grown in some areas.”

Hosted by Chris White in London, Fruitbox now attracts a big audience across the global fruit and vegetable business that tunes every week to hear exclusive interviews and expert analysis.

Produced by Fruitnet Media International, the show is essential listening for everyone in the fresh produce industry.

To find out how you can tell your story on Fruitbox, email [email protected].

To learn about sponsorship and advertising opportunities, email [email protected].

Read the latest fresh produce industry news at www.fruitnet.com