The Ruby Co., Buffalo Grove, Ill., was founded in 1966 and has not stopped growing.
The company recently added a variety of commodities outside of its original core offerings of potatoes and onions and also has delved into the transportation arena, said Josh Wolff, director of growth and strategy.
“Over the last 24 to 36 months, we’ve been highly focused on expanding our commodity offerings to include good, concrete options on lettuce, warm veg, tomatoes, squash, broccoli, cauliflower and more,” he said.
The company also plays a large role in supporting seasonal commodities – a sizable watermelon program in the summer and pumpkins in the fall.
“We pack a great label -- Sweet Mama Produce” – Wolff said.
“We continue to expand our growing operations to support increasing consumer/retail demand.”
Ruby also helps buyers in the Midwest, central and eastern U.S. control freight costs for lettuce by offering a program out of Los Cruces, N.M.
“It provides the same high-quality lettuce that you see in Santa Maria or Salinas, but because of its location in New Mexico, it allows for tremendous freight savings for customers east of New Mexico,” he said.
The company also has its own full-line freight operation.
In 2019, before transportation became a major challenge for shippers of produce and other items, The Ruby Co. jumped into the area and established Deploy Solutions Group, a fast-growing freight brokerage based in downtown Chicago, Wolff said.
Deploy offers refrigerated fright services but will ship anything, including plastics, recycled goods, dry food, wood, material, seafood and water.
The company got into the freight segment primarily to support its internal core business, but now Deploy is expanding to external customers, including “anybody who is moving product right now,” he said.
The move appears to have been a good one.
“It’s been tremendous for us,” he said. “During the 2020-21 calendar year, it has been crazy, crazy busy.” “We’re doing everything we can to keep the supply chains moving while helping our customers mitigate elevated freight expenses.”
The brokerage got its start shipping produce, he said, “and that allowed us to develop best-in-class process and service capabilities.”
“We take what we learned in moving fresh produce into other commodities.”
Deploy Solutions Group maintains a strong following in the produce industry by always mentioning that its parent organization is The Ruby Co., Wolff said.
“That adds value and instant credibility,” he said. “We’ve got this tremendous legacy and history of being in the produce business for over 55 years.
