About half of the remaining employees are still on-site at the Santa Paula facility, said Cole, as “we still have to do a lot of shipping.”Founded in 1924 and then based in Irvine, Calavo is the largest avocado processor in the world, churning through approximately 100 million pounds of avocados annually just at its Santa Paula plant. In all, Calavo processes a total of 175 million pounds of avocados each year, creating guacamole for numerous suppliers as well as under the company’s own brand name.The Santa Paula main processing plant on West Telegraph Road was finished in 1975, joining the fresh plant constructed in the 1950s.Upon relocation of the Santa Paula processed operation and the conversion to the ProRipe program is intended as a “boon to consumer demand by delivering to grocers avocados that are ready to purchase and eat,” the press release noted.“The successful implementation of ProRipe is a key component of our stated strategy to increase domestic consumption of fresh avocados,” said Cole. “Doing so, in turn, benefits and strengthens the California avocado industry, which continues to represent the backbone of our business. These initiatives offer truly positive implications for Calavo: we significantly reduce the cost structure of the processed-product unit, gain much-needed space to implement ProRipe and provide critical future capacity for California avocado packing operations, a key profit engine for our company.”
Calavo Growers Inc. to vacate SP processing plant for conversion
February 21, 2003
Santa Paula News
Calavo Growers Inc. has announced operations of its Santa Paula and Mexicali avocado processing plants will be moved to a new a single, newly acquired 90,000 square foot facility in Uruapan, Michoacan, Mexico.
By Peggy KellySanta Paula TimesCalavo Growers Inc. has announced operations of its Santa Paula and Mexicali avocado processing plants will be moved to a new a single, newly acquired 90,000 square foot facility in Uruapan, Michoacan, Mexico.The Santa Paula processing plant, recently highlighted in numerous news stories as the world’s leading guacamole producer, will be converted for another use, according to Lee Cole, Calavo’s chairman, president and chief executive officer.The Santa Paula processing plant, also 90,000 square feet which employs about 50 people during peak season, will be converted to expand avocado packing operations to accommodate growing space requirements for its ProRipe fresh ripening program.Cole said that the operational conversion should include most if not all of the workforce and the Santa Paula facility “will never be shut down. . .we may even do some fresh packing,” at the plant.The changes are part of a “two-pronged initiative of capital investment and expansion in core business units,” according to the Calavo press release. “Upon relocation of the Santa Paula processed operation, it plans to convert the vacated facility and expand operations at the facility to accommodate growing space requirements that will accelerate development of ProRipe, the company’s fresh ripening program.”The company has operated a fresh-avocado operation in Uruapan since 1998, where the company currently packs and distributes nearly one-third of Mexico’s entire annual harvest for export.
