Shaun Ricks, who for the last six years has been manager of the grape division of Salinas, CA-based Pacific International Marketing, announced Wednesday, April 30, that he has started his own company, The Grape Guys. The new company "is made up of three active partners" and a silent equity partner, he said. Mr. Ricks is president, and the other active partners are Greg Irby, who is chief financial officer, and Mark Kalafut, who is sales manager. Mr. Irby and Mr. Kalafut were also previously with PIM. The Grape Guys will operate from the same offices and cooling facility in Cutler, CA, that

New potato acreage has reversed course in California's Kern County, dropping from 9,268 acres in 2007 to 8,362 in 2008, a decline of nearly 10 percent, according to published data from the Kern County Department of Agriculture. The figures exclude the Kern County Department of Agriculture's category for "chippers," or potato chips, a category that is not used in the calculations by the Kern County Shippers Association. Also, one major Kern County packingshed does not publicly release its acreage and therefore is not included in the totals. The 2007 season had marked a one-year turnaround when

Mario Batali, the celebrity guru of Italian restaurants in America, claims that the keys to the cuisine in his restaurants are freshness and simplicity. But that mantra is almost contradictory to what patrons express after dining at any of the 14 restaurants. To them, these basic keys are somehow transformed into outstanding, elegant, luscious meals that linger in their culinary memories for years to come. Mario Batali and partner/winemaker Joe Bastianich dealt diners a good hand at B&B Ristorante when they opened at the Las Vegas Venetian Resort in 2007 with elegant but classic decor

Sweetbay Supermarket, the Tampa, FL-based supermarket company of the Belgium-based Delhaize Group, has named Lori Malcolm vice president of human resources at the supermarket chain. Ms. Malcolm's primary responsibilities include promoting Sweetbay's passion for food and passion for people among associates, senior managers, and operating officers and directors. She will also be responsible for enhancing Sweetbay's corporate culture and values, helping to create a vibrant place to work for the employees. "We are thrilled to have Lori join the Sweetbay team," Shelley Broader, president and chief

Market data recently released by AC Nielsen indicate that sliced apples marketed by Crunch Pak LLC in Cashmere, WA, rank among the top prepared food items consumed. Crunch Pak Director of Marketing Tony Freytag said that the one-pound bag of sweet apple slices was fourth on the list, and the company's tart apple slices ranked 12th. This is no small feat, he noted, because the overall list includes 1,400 items classified as prepared foods. The news is also impressive because the sliced-apple category as a whole has shown explosive market sector growth, Mr. Freytag told The Produce News. "If you

After more than 60 years in the fresh produce industry, Jerry Grossman is ready to call it a job well done. Mr. Grossman spent most of those years as an independent produce broker. His license expires May 20, and at 86 years old, he is closing the business. It would seem that he has had a pretty good run. "I don't think anyone's ever called me a rotten son of a bitch," Mr. Grossman joked. The secret to his success, he told The Produce News, came down to these three attributes: quality, honesty and volume. Though he has not quite retired yet, he said that he is feeling "very happy about