Greg Paul Produce inks marketing deal
Published on
03/11/2008 12:00AM
James Paul will lead the new Lompoc, Calif., sales office for Stockton, Calif.-based Greg Paul Produce Sales Inc. under their agreement to be the marketing agent for Big E Produce.
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(March 11) Stockton, Calif.-based Greg Paul Produce Sales Inc. has reached an agreement to be the exclusive marketing agent in the U.S. and Canada for Big E Produce, Lompoc, Calif.
Plans call for a Lompoc sales office to be opened by the end of the month, said James Paul, who will head the new office.
“When my father founded this company, his primary goal was to take care of the grower and achieve for him the best returns possible within the marketplace,” Paul said.
That goal remains what drives the company, he said.
Big E Produce, owned by Jesse Espinoza, is a grower-packer-shipper of iceberg and romaine lettuce, red and green cabbage, cilantro, cauliflower, broccoli and other commodities, Paul said. The Greg Paul Produce Sales volume for 2008 is expected to exceed 3 million cartons, he said, up from the 750,000 cartons the company sold last year, mostly onions and asparagus.
Two fresh produce salesmen have agreed to join the Lompoc office of Greg Paul Produce Sales; they are expected to notify their current employers about their plans the week of March 10.
Greg Paul Produce Sales was launched in 1979, Paul said, when his father agreed to be the sales agent for a Stockton area potato growing family. When the family sold its acreage, the sales company branched out to represent other growers of potatoes, onions, asparagus and other commodities.
Paul, a graduate of Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo, worked for his father through high school and during summers while in college. He worked for Boskovich Farms inc., Oxnard, Calif. and Apio Inc., Guadalupe, Calif. before joining his father’s company.