Kansas City, Kan.-based wholesaler Liberty Fruit Co. hired a new CEO.
John McClelland starts May 14. He comes to Liberty Fruit from Paragon Foods in Pittsburgh, Pa., where he was most recently chief operating officer for the past eight years. He has other food business and technology experience.
McClelland said he expects his transition to Liberty Fruit to be fairly smooth, as Paragon Foods had similar lines of business in fresh produce wholesale, foodservice, fresh-cut and repacking.
“With my background in technology, I’ll bring some new processes to drive service innovation,” McClelland said April 9. “We want to make it easier to do business with Liberty Fruit. We’re here to solve our customers’ problems.”
Liberty Fruit president Allen Caviar will remain in his role, he said, but owner Arnold Caviar will retire from the company May 18 and take on the new title of chairman of the board.
