The FruitGuys, a 26-year-old family-run Certified B Corp, started by delivering healthier office snacks in response to the unhealthy habits of tech workers during the dot-com boom. Now, they ship nationwide out of 11 facilities, with fruit as the company’s primary business in addition to “better-for-you” snack options.
The FruitGuys CEO Erin Mittelstaedt says her brother started the business in San Francisco after seeing a need for healthier options in the workplace.
“Although my brother founded the business, I became CEO in the fall of 2023; this year we became women-owned and women-led,” Mittelstaedt said.
In the beginning, the company needed to educate people about the benefits of having healthy options in the workplace.
“Coffee was big, and fancy offices had specialty items like candies and sometimes beer, but people felt like fruit was perishable, so we had to convince people about the benefits of fruit as a snack,” Mittelstaedt said. “It’s easy, it’s grab and go … but over the years, we’ve found that people are more focused on having healthier choices.”
The company has seen a rise in demand for healthier office options post-pandemic as workers return to the office, driven by both corporate wellness initiatives and employee health concerns.
“One side is that offices are looking for ways to bring people back into the office, so they want to have something fun and vibrant, and fruit is something that you might have at home, so they want to bring it into the office,” Mittelstaedt said. “Then the other thing is a continued trend of a focus on health. We’ve had a couple of companies say, ‘We’re not going to pay for junk foods anymore’ and have pushed for other choices, which naturally include fruit. So, we’ve seen interest shift over the 26 years and grow where people are. Now, I think, fruit is considered more of a staple.”
As interest in health and wellness increases, particularly around periods such as the new year with its healthy resolutions, there’s always an uptick in orders, Mittelstaedt says.
“Since we’re primarily B2B, we serve mostly offices. So, one reason we see an increase in the new year is because budgets restart. Then there’s also the ‘new year, new initiatives’ push,” she said. “And most businesses we work with truly care about their employees, and there’s also a cost related to having employees who aren’t healthy in terms of sick days or high insurance costs, so I think there’s a real incentive for offices to create options for employees to eat healthier — to create an environment that makes it easy for employees to make healthy choices or at least have access to them.”
Other times the company might see increases in orders depends on the industry. For example, accounting firms “really ramp up” during tax season, Mittelstaedt says, noting there is also a seasonal shift for shipping companies.
“In the summertime, when it’s hot and people are working in the warehouse, the companies want to encourage healthier practices, so we see an uptick in that industry,” she said.
With 11 facilities, Mittelstaedt says The FruitGuys tries to purchase direct from the farm in all the regions, whenever possible.
Of these connections, Mittelstaedt said, “My brother and I are originally from Pennsylvania, which is an amazing state with a lot of agriculture, so we have several farms that we work with out of our Philadelphia facility. The same in California: we ship from a lot of different farms all across the state. We’re interested in building lasting, long-term relationships with our farms. By building these relationships we’re able to source the right quality that we need.
“In doing so, the farmer knows our exact needs,” she continued. “For example, we have a farmer who picks stone fruit for us, so peaches, nectarines — summer fruit like that — and he knows the right size; he knows the right color. Because when we ship our fruit, it has to be firm. We don’t want it market-ready and the farmer understands that because we’ve worked together for so long. We’re very grateful for our farm relationships and try to focus on buying direct from family farms as much as we can.”
When it comes to selection, bananas remain the most requested fruit.
“Because of this, we sort of live and die by what color our banana is. We work hard to deliver a yellow banana with green tips,” Mittelstaedt said.
While some companies want the traditional fruit options of apples, oranges and bananas, other companies are interested in sampling unique fruit options.
“Kiwi berries are a favorite, and it’s so much fun for offices to experiment with different fruits,” she said.
As for feedback, the company hears that clients want to support the wellness of their workforce, and they value The FruitGuys’ commitment to quality and customer service. Customers appreciate The FruitGuys’ reliability, freshness guarantee and ability to provide a healthy, free snack option for employees, Mittelstaedt says.
