CVGW Company Profile

Calavo Growers, Inc., is a global leader in the avocado industry and an expanding provider of value-added fresh food. Our expertise in marketing and distributing avocados, prepared avocados, and other perishable foods allows us to deliver a wide array of fresh and prepared food products to food distributors, produce wholesalers, supermarkets, convenience stores, and restaurants on a worldwide basis. We procure avocados principally from California and Mexico. Through our various operating facilities, we (i) sort, pack, and/or ripen avocados, tomatoes and/or Hawaiian grown papayas, (ii) process and package fresh cut fruit and vegetables, salads, wraps, sandwiches, fresh snacking products and a variety of behind-the-glass deli items and (iii) produce and package guacamole and salsa. We distribute our products both domestically and internationally and report our operations in three different business segments: Fresh products, Calavo Foods and RFG. Our principal executive offices are located at 1141-A Cummings Road, Santa Paula, California 93060; telephone (805) 525-1245.

Calavo was founded in 1924 to market California avocados. In California, the growing area stretches from San Diego County to Monterey County, with the majority of the growing areas located approximately 100 miles north and south of Los Angeles County. The storage life of fresh avocados is limited. It generally ranges from one to four weeks, depending upon the maturity of the fruit, the growing methods used, and the handling conditions in the distribution chain.

We sell avocados to a diverse group of supermarket chains, wholesalers, food service and other distributors, under the Calavo family of brand labels, as well as private labels. From time to time, some of our larger customers seek short-term sales contracts that formalize their pricing and volume requirements. Generally, these contracts contain provisions that establish a price floor and/or ceiling during the contract duration. In our judgment, the shift by our customers to drafting sales contracts benefits large handlers like us, which have the ability to fulfill the terms of these contracts.

The Hass variety is the predominant avocado variety marketed on a worldwide basis. Generally, California grown Hass avocados are available year-round, with peak production periods occurring from April through August. Other varieties have a more limited picking season and generally command a lower price. Approximately 1,900 California growers deliver avocados to us, generally pursuant to a standard marketing agreement. Our share of the California avocado crop approximated 28% of the 2016 shipped California avocado crop, based on data published by the California Avocado Commission. We attribute our solid foothold in the California industry principally to the competitiveness of the per pound returns we pay and the communication and service we maintain with our growers.

California avocados delivered to our packinghouses are grouped as a homogenous pool on a weekly basis based on the variety, size, and grade. They are then graded, sized, packed, cooled and, frequently, ripened for delivery to customers. Our ability to estimate the size, as well as the timing of the delivery of the annual avocado crop, has a substantial impact on both our costs and the sales price we receive for the fruit. To that end, our field personnel maintain direct contact with growers and farm managers and coordinate harvest plans. The feedback from our field-managers is used by our sales department to prepare sales plans used by our direct sales force.
A significant portion of our California avocado handling costs is fixed. As a result, significant fluctuations in the volume of avocados delivered have a considerable impact on the per pound packing costs of avocados we handle. Generally, larger crops will result in a lower per pound handling cost. We believe that our cost structure is geared to optimally handle larger avocado crops. Our strategy calls for continued efforts in aggressively recruiting new large growers, retaining existing growers, and procuring a larger percentage of the California avocado crop.

We have developed a series of marketing and sales initiatives primarily aimed at our largest customers that are designed to differentiate our products and services from those offered by our competitors. Some of these key initiatives are as follows:

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We continue to have success with our ProRipeVIP™ avocado ripening program. This proprietary program allows us to deliver avocados ~evenly ripened to our customers’ specifications. We have invested in TasteTech Near Infrared (NIR) technology and equipment. The most significant reason we invested in the TasteTech systems is because the NIR technology measures internal qualities of the entire piece of fruit, as opposed to competitive mechanical tests that use pressure and calculated averages to measure firmness. We believe that ripened avocados help our customers address the consumers immediate needs and accelerate the sale of avocados through their stores. We currently have three TasteTech systems in use in the United States, which, we believe, can effectively meet our customers’ demand for conditioned fruit.

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We have developed various display techniques and packages that appeal to consumers and, in particular, impulse buyers. Some of our techniques include the bagging of avocados and the strategic display of the bags within the produce section of retail stores. Our research has demonstrated that consumers generally purchase a larger quantity of avocados when presented in a bag as opposed to the conventional bulk displays. We also believe that the value proposition of avocados in a bag provides for a higher level of sales to grocery stores.

Other perishable food products include various other fruit, such as tomatoes, papayas, and pineapples. The majority of our other perishable food sales are generated from tomatoes and papayas. Tomatoes are primarily handled on a consigned basis, while papayas are handled on a pooling basis, generally at a fixed fee per papaya delivered. Sales of our diversified Fresh products generally experience fluctuations related to seasonality. We believe our efforts in distributing our other various types of fruit complement our offerings of avocados

We utilize ultra-high pressure technology equipment, which is designed to protect and safeguard our avocado and guacamole products without the need of preservatives. Using high pressure only, this procedure substantially destroys the cells of any bacteria that could lead to spoilage, food safety, or oxidation issues. Once the procedure is complete, our packaged guacamole is cased and shipped to various retail, club, and food service customers throughout the markets we service in the U.S and abroad.