Macadu Fresh has big plans for 2023, beyond
From
| 27 February 2023
Overview of avocados in the U.S. market, complemented by charts from Agronometrics. Original published on February 22, 2023.
It was precisely two years ago when produce industry veteran Mike Madden started Macadu Fresh, a business focused on growing, importing and distributing quality fresh fruits from its headquarters in Vineland, NJ, and alternate space in Miami.
Combined, the company has more than 190,000 square feet of facilities in the U.S., Ecuador and Chile. It ships products utilizing temperature controlling equipment and specialized packing for sensitive foods. Those products are grown sourced and imported from Argentina, Ecuador, Chile, Peru, Mexico and Spain.
Source: USDA Market News via Agronometrics.
(Agronometrics users can view this chart with live updates here)
Madden is no stranger to the Southeast Produce Council’s Southern Exposure show and will attend this year for the third time since his new company formed, walking the floor and meeting with others in the industry.
“Over the years, you never know who you are going to run into at this show,” Madden said. “Every relationship counts. You might run into an old friend, or make a new friend, and you never know what can happen from there. So, it’s always good to go to these shows and see what develops.”
In his opinion, SEPC’s show is one of the better ones running, because it’s all under one roof and everyone congregates to the bar and is in one place after the show floor closes, so it makes it easy to network and see everyone.
“Going these last couple of years has really benefited us,” Madden said. “We ran into a couple of people who I have known for a number of years, and we ended up doing some business with them and it worked out pretty well. Hopefully, this year will be more of the same. There’s always something new to learn in the produce business. Our end goal is to pick up new relationships.”
The company is currently setting up its domestic blueberry programs and is gearing up to have some good Georgia and North Carolina deals starting soon.
“We’re also working on our imported citrus program, and getting things lined up for a pretty big program,” Madden said. “We have a couple of new growers who we added on and are excited about that as well.”
Macadu is coming into the final stages of erecting a new building. Madden expects to break ground soon and get that up and running in the near future.
“Things are growing for Macadu as we go into our third year,” Madden said. “We picked up another salesman (John McCarthy) at the end of last year and will be looking for another salesman to add to the team.”
Macadu is also working on a couple of joint ventures with a Mexican grower to sell their products for them, which is another exciting development at the company.
“I think 2023 will be great and so far, so good,” Madden said. “We’re going to double the volume of what we’ve brought in so that will help boost sales, and we’re going to concentrate on our core items. At the end of the day, a lot of guys get into 40 or 50 skus, and things fall through the cracks. We don’t want to just fill orders, we want to do the right thing and complete the order with the best quality. The way you do that is to home in on what you’re good at. That’s what has helped us with our growth.”
The News in Charts is a collection of stories from the industry complemented by charts from Agronometrics to help better tell their story.
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