Avocado specialist creates two new divisions and unveils brand refresh
Calavo Growers has announced plans to reorganise its business to better serve customers while improving efficiencies and cost savings.
The company will now be organised into two reporting segments, Grown and Prepared. The Grown segment will consist of fresh avocados, tomatoes and papaya.
The Prepared segment will comprise all other products including fresh cut fruits and vegetables, ready-to-eat sandwiches, wraps, salads and snacks, guacamole, and salsa sold at retail and foodservice as well as avocado pulp sold to foodservice.
The two segments each will be led by a senior vice president/general manager responsible for sales, earnings, strategy, international growth, customer fulfillment, grower/supplier relations and new product development.
Rob Wedin will take on the role of Grown senior vice president/general manager and Ron Araiza will be the interim Prepared senior vice president/general manager.
“The new organisational structure will bring clarity to the decision-making process and increase speed of execution to capture efficiencies and generate growth,” said Brian Kocher, Calavo’s president and chief executive officer.
“By aligning product fulfillment responsibilities with P&L management, we will better serve our customers with a cost-effective and market-focused organisation.”
The reorganisation is part of Calavo’s Project Uno, a profit improvement project, that includes pricing initiatives, SKU rationalisation, unified procurement, consolidated freight and optimising administrative functions across all business units. As part of this process the position of chief operations officer, among other roles in the organisation, is being eliminated.
“We have moved quickly to establish an efficient operating structure and fill these roles while ensuring we get the right leaders for success,” Kocher said. “By finding great leaders, clarifying their responsibilities, identifying accountabilities and arming the organisation with processes and services to execute, we will position Calavo for long-term profitable growth.”
The reorganisation follows the company’s recent brand refresh where it unveiled a new logo, brand personality and tagline: “The famliy of fresh”.
