Since 1969, Del Rey Avocado Co. has operated from the same facilities in Fallbrook, CA. For the last several years, the company knew that it would outgrow its current facility and would need to begin searching for a suitable location in the surrounding communities to keep up with customer demand. The decision to purchase a new facility in Southern California follows in the footsteps of the company’s expansion when Del Rey Avocado purchased its new facility in Vineland, NJ, back in January 2017, and then had to double its capacity thanks in large part to increased avocado consumption and outstanding customer relationships.
For several months the partner families (the Lucys and the Siemers) searched for suitable land on which to build a new facility. As fate would have it, their exhaustive search lead to the discovery of a very functional and modern existing warehouse facility a short drive away from their Fallbrook headquarters, in Vista, CA. This new facility would allow the company to become operational in less than half the time of building a new facility, additionally the new facility is conveniently located to major transportation routes. The Vista facility will add an additional 43,000 square feet of cold storage and ripening rooms to the existing footprint in San Diego County.
The new facility will service customers in the western U.S. (primarily west of the Rocky Mountains) as well as imports from Mexico. The market in the western and southwestern United States continues to grow as avocados become a staple in the American diet. More and more retailers are adding additional SKUs where they traditionally carried only bulk avocados. Many retailers are carrying at least three different pack options, which research has shown increases consumer purchases. The addition of the SKUs has not taken away from the bulk sales, rather it has increased the overall sales of avocados. This is a proven merchandising strategy in produce departments as evidenced by Nielsen market research conducted on berry patch merchandising, and other specialty commodities like artichokes.
“Our growth an expansion would not be possible without the support of our customers and the tremendous relationships we enjoy with them. In addition to our customers, our employees are the key to our growth and success. Not a day goes by that we don’t counting our blessing,” said Bob Lucy, company president.
Del Rey Avocado owns its facilities on the West Coast and East Coast, which gives it total control over operations. The company employs 85 full-time professionals who are experts in avocado ripening and handling out of the Southern California facilities.
“Opening a new facility has long been our goal and desire to streamline our operations, improve efficiencies and offer us an opportunity to be innovative in meeting the need of our customers. The new Vista facility will also provide our growers many benefits as it will allow us to receive fruit faster and get products to market faster,” said Bob Siemer, chief agronomist and partner.
Del Rey Avocado expects the demand for its fruit to continue to increase over the next five to seven years and is well positioned with strong growers and international procurement to keep up with the demand from retailers, foodservice, and ultimately consumers who love avocados.
