Leading fresh produce group Total Produce has announced this week that it is to rebrand its Redbridge Worldfresh retailing and importing division as Total Worldfresh, effective from 1 February 2010.
The move comes three years after Total Produce's acquisition of Redbridge, during which time the business has gone 'from strength to strength', supported by a robust balance sheet and an experienced management team, according to group COO Richard Parke-Davies.
'As a consequence we have also rebranded the operational businesses to create a series of focussed entities capable of supporting growers and customers in a specialised and cost-effective way,' Mr Parke-Davies said in an industry statement.
Alterations include the rebranding of The Summerfruit Company to Total Berry UK, led by Ian Waller and forming part of the pan-European soft fruit operation Total Berry.
Total Cherry will be created to focus specialist activity within the cherry and stonefruit categories, while Total Import will focus on non-retail activity across a range of fresh produce categories including imported salads and vegetables.
Total Fruit will link together the retail and non-retail operations in the UK, and will be created to focus predominantly on apples, pears, citrus and grapes.
'The business has grown substantially and it is appropriate now to create new focus that will provide clarity for our customers and suppliers,' Denis Punter, executive chairman of Total Produce UK, told Freshinfo. 'We believe these changes make our business focused and fit for purpose.'
Mr Punter revealed in the industry release that there would be a number of personnel changes as part of the rebranding and restructuring, with Mr Parke-Davies appointed as chief operating officer of Total Worldfresh and Mr Waller appointed to the Total Worldfresh board with special responsibility for trading.
Larisha Engelbrecht will be promoted to the new position of commercial director of Total Worldfresh, Tony Ganio will be appointed as business development director responsible for developing Total Import, Morgan Barratt will be promoted to commercial manager at Total Fruit, and Tony Gardner will manage the retail operations of Total Fruit.
