Plant Reportedly Sold
May29,2015-
Embattled produce packing and marketing firm Fruit Patch will close according to a state Warn Notice published in the past few days. The notice says the closure is permanent with the layoff of 132 employees by July 8. Dinuba city administrator Jayne Anderson confirms the city received the notice as well – commenting that ”it’s too bad we are losing a long time employer.” The company facility is located on Rd 48, a few miles from town.
Fruit Patch has been in the hands of two Wall Street private equity firms in the past decade – the latest being American Capital who bought the company from Marina Capital Partners in 2006 for $168 million.
A series of CEOs has run the Dinuba-based company that has had a record of shipping produce mostly from nearby farms to over 10,000 retail locations. Fruit Patch provides packing and marketing services to growers of apricots,plums,nectarines,grapes,pomegranates,Asian pears and specialty citrus.They also offered grower financing.
While no one from American Capital returned numerous phone calls – a person who answered the phone at the Dinuba headquarters said Mr. Gallagher “was no longer with the company.”
If Fruit Patch’s recent history was a bit bumpy, so has the tree fruit industry as a whole.
Ironically. sources say this year’s tree fruit crop “looks good” despite the drought, says produce company rep Steve Nelsen of Visalia. One shipper – Simonian Farms says fruit size is smaller but quality and demand is good. Industry expert Barry Bedwell, President at California Fresh Fruit Association, says tree fruit farmers clustered in Tulare and Fresno counties typically have enough water this year, from wells. The Kings River has created ideal sandy soil in this region for growing the best stone fruit and wells are comparatively shallow.
Just who is buying the big,modern Fruit Patch cold storage,packing and processing facility is not clear. The facility is said to be state-of-the-art with some 20 cold storage rooms as well as a large ozone treatment center. In a 2011 story,a American Capital rep said “There have been $5 million invested in the plant in the last three years.”