California fresh-cut companies merge

Sliced apple companies Farmington Fresh Cuts, Stockton, Calif., and Fresh Innovations, Oxnard, Calif., are merging.

The merger was announced June 7 by Fresh Innovations owner and agriculture investment company Arable Capital Partners, in a move to strengthen Fresh Innovations’ fresh-cut fruit sector. Arable announced its purchase of Farmington Fresh Cuts in the same news release with details of the merger.

Farmington Fresh Cuts has retail sliced granny smith, red and Opal apples in various snack packs, and also has foodservice packs of sliced apples, pears and oranges. The company has a bagged onion program and markets whole Modi apples grown in the U.S.

Fresh Innovations, purchased by Arable this year, sells Prize Slice brand sliced apple packs at retail, and also supplies foodservice operators. The company has a line of sliced vegetables as well.

“We are excited to build on our investment in the value-added fruit and vegetable category,” Derek Yurosek, Arable Capital Partners managing director, said in the release. “This merger allows both companies to continue their high level of service for their existing customers and to develop new customers on a regional and national level.”

Stockton-based Farmington Fresh is close to an airport and major highways, according to the release.

“The addition of Farmington will help us accelerate our growth plans for Fresh Innovations,” Arable Managing Director Greg Richards said in the release. “We have a lot of confidence in the Fresh Innovations management team that will be running the combined companies,” Greg Richards, managing director of Arable, said in the release.

Alpine Pacific Capital participated as a minority investor, according to the release.