A year after Progressive Produce opened its 112,000-square-foot state-of-the-art cold storage and distribution facility in La Mirada, CA, the company has seen tremendous growth across all of its businesses.

"This new facility has supported our company’s continued growth in every facet of our business," said Cory Stahl, vice president of sales. "Over the last decade, our asparagus and wet vegetable business has grown from needing 6,000 square feet to 20,000 square feet and now we have over 50,000 square feet of cold storage to continue our growth with our new Progressive Farms brand, available now. Our commitment to our customers and grower partners of doing what we say we will do continues to resonate and return results that are sustainable and lead to growth for all involved."  

This summer, Progressive is expecting to see strong fresh asparagus supplies from Mexico and Peru. The Fourth of July and the entire summer BBQ season has become a great time to promote fresh asparagus. With asparagus fields opened in central Mexico and northern Baja set for June 20, Progressive will be an industry leader in yields during the summer out of Mexico.

"We are extremely proud of the work our team in Mexico and Peru have done and continue to do. We are particularly excited about our investments in Northern Baja, where we have significant new acreage to harvest this season," said Don Hessel, vice president of grower relations and operations. "Baja is a region that usually produces the best quality asparagus for the summer season." Progressive expects these crops in Mexico to start up nicely as its fields in Washington start to close at the end of June.  Also this summer Progressive will be marketing its famously sweet Walla Walla sweet onions starting in July, just in time for the holiday weekend until mid-August.

Progressive is equally excited about how this new facility has impacted its longtime home in the City of Commerce, where the company packs bulk potatoes and onions fresh from its growers in California, Oregon, Washington, Colorado and Peru. According to Scott Leimkuhler, senior vice president of sales, "We are very proud of our grower partner network that supplies us with the best produce. We believe our 'just in time' model in the middle of Southern California makes us a premier supplier for our customers."  

This fall, Progressive is set to harvest over 400 acres of mini colored potatoes in Washington between conventional and organic with a size profile primarily consisting of C and CC sized reds, golds, and purples. Jamie Simon, director of business development, said, "The partnerships we have with our amazing growers, combined with our sales, logistics and packing abilities, allows us to support our customers in the baby potato segment. We expect private labels and sustainable packaging to be the next big opportunity for baby potatoes."

Progressive recently introduced a new 1.5-pound Strawberry Blond Baby Potato pack to meet the continued consumer demand growth. "We are proud to be leaders in innovative potato and onion packing and are excited about the ways we’ve been able to support the retail and foodservice sectors when it comes to sustainable, non-plastic packaging," said Simon.

Founded 53 years ago, Progressive Produce continues work hard to live up to its mission of providing outstanding products and service to customers. "We have an unwavering commitment to deliver excellence and intend to make it 100 years as a produce industry leader in the City of Angels," said Jim Leimkuhler, CEO.