Two of the most distinguished names in the California fruit industry are about to become a single entity. Beginning in October, Rivermaid Trading Company and Wespak Sales will officially merge their operations creating one of the larger vertically-integrated grower-shippers of tree fruit in the state.
According to industry sources, the two companies ship the equivalent of 4,500 truckloads - approximately 90,000 tonnes - of fresh produce annually. Rivermaid Trading fruit categories include cherries and pears, and the firm has traditionally marketed asparagus from the Lodi-Stockton area.
Wespak Sales is the sales and marketing division of the Enns Packing Company and brings to the table a strong fruit portfolio that in addition to cherries includes plums, peaches, nectarines, table grapes, kiwifruit, pomegranates and persimmons.
Rivermaid Trading and Wespak have been cooperating for packing California cherries for the several years. Evidently a compatibility in management styles and some developments within the Enns family instigated discussions on a formal combining forces.
“The two companies found reason to collaborate further as we already going in the same direction and that some synergies were possible. And so we quietly merged our sales efforts last April,” says Wespak’s CEO Blair Richardson
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