Mission Produce will celebrate 35 years of innovation at this weekend’s PMA Fresh Summit in Orlando.
Among its long list of achievements, the leading avocado distributor pioneered a nationwide ripening programme for the fruit in the US and became the first company to commercially import avocados from Chile.
Over more recent times, Mission has pursued opportunities in emerging avocado markets across Asia, becoming the first supplier to open an avocado ripening and distribution centre in China.
“Mission simply pays attention and seizes opportunities,” said James Donovan, Mission’s senior vice president of global sourcing. “We will continue to capitalise on being the most innovative and quality-centric avocado handler in the world.”
Mission operates in nine countries and owns 11 ripening facilities in North America, Europe, and China.
While innovation has been at the forefront of the company’s evolution, and will continue to be so, its biggest investment over the years has been in its personnel.
“Although we have grown tremendously in the last 35 years, our core values remain the same. Our employees abide by the acronym FIRST, which stands for fun, innovative, reliable, successful and trustworthy,” said Ross Wileman, Mission’s senior vice president of strategic initiatives.
“We will continue building this business by investing in relationships, living by the motto ‘work hard, play hard’, and showing our partners our devotion for success.”
