Mack Farms Inc. is the latest potato grower-shipper to join the Fresh Solutions Network.
The addition of the Lake Wales, Fla.-based company brings a major Southeast potato grower with significant early-season volume into the San Francisco-based Fresh Solutions Network, according to a news release.
Mack grows primarily red potatoes, but also has yellows, whites, russets and fingerlings, as well as cabbage. McMelon Inc., a subsidiary, grows and packs watermelons.
“Their potato quality and range of offerings are the perfect complement to our other grower/shipper network partners, and their Florida location strengthens our capabilities for servicing retail and foodservice customers in the southern states,” Kathleen Triou, Fresh Solutions’ president and chief executive officer, said in the release.
“Plus, their ability to harvest and ship the earliest new-crop potatoes will be a real value-adding benefit to our customers throughout the entire country,” she said in the release.
Arnold Mack, president and CEO, said the partnership should help improve grower profitability.
“You’ve got to put profit back into growth, or else you’ll stagnate,” he said in the release.
The October acquisition of Okeechobee, Fla.-based Eagle Island Farms Inc. added 2,000 south Florida acres and another packing and storage facility to Mack Farms’ operations.
Over the past five years, Mack Farms has doubled cooler capacity and is adding another 25 to 30 percent of cooling as well as additional acreage, according to the release.
The company also has added packaging capabilities to handle small potatoes and is investing in specialty grading equipment for sizing, according to the release.
Founded in 1967, Mack Farms sells to retailers up and down the East Coast as well as in Texas.
Source: The Packer