Chiquita Brands International has appointed Tanios Viviani as the new vice president of Fresh Cut Fruit.
Viviani will be responsible for heading Chiquita Fresh Cut Fruit, which began serving customers in midwestern US at the end of 2003.
Viviani is a former Procter&Gamble executive and brings over 20 years business experience to the division. "The Chiquita Fresh Cut Fruit team has already made good progress and earned feedback from customers," said Viviani. "I'm excited to join the Chiquita team and build on that momentum."
Chairman and chief executive officer, Fernando Aguirre said: "Tanios has demonstrated success in managing brands, developing businesses and starting up new operations. I'm confident that his experience in developing market-entry strategies, efficient supply-chain structures, strategic alliances and marketing plans will help us leverage our brand into a growing and profitable Chiquita Fresh Cut Fruit business."
Currently the Chiquita Fresh Cut Fruit product lines consist of a variety of combinations of watermelon, pineapple, cantaloupe, honeydew, strawberries and grapes in consumer-friendly packaging in a variety of sizes, and uses proprietary technology to enhance shelf life and food safety.
Aguirre concluded: "I am pleased with our recently completed senior note offering, which will significantly lower our interest expense and increase our financial flexibility.
"In addition, we continue to believe that if the positive banana price and volume trends we have experienced in recent months continue for the rest of the year, we see little impact to our 2004 operations associated with the previously announced revisions to our cost-savings estimates."
