Pacificpro Sales sees increased demand for packaged options

Pacificpro Sales LLC has partnered with Glacier Peak Cold Storage to provide packaged fruit options.

The Bellevue, Wash.-based company is promoting mixed apple and orange bags, various mixed apple and pear variety boxes for fundraiser programs, gift boxes and an added emphasis on convenience-store growth, said Marcus Hartmann, vice president.

“We have not introduced any new packaging this season, but we are seeing increased demand for fruit packed in bins, as well as loose volume-fill bushels for processors, food banks and other community service organizations,” Hartmann said.

Pacificpro is a full-service shipper of conventional and organic Pacific Northwest crops, specializing in apples and pears. 

“We service receivers nationally with a strong emphasis on delivering less than truckload volume (LTL) to wholesale, distributor, retail and jobber receivers in every market across the U.S. and Canada,” Hartmann said.

The company’s long-standing grower-shipper partner relationships, in addition to its cross-docking and consolidation expertise, make the company an ideal partner for customers looking to source Washington apples, he said. 

“Our cross-dock facility, consolidation assets and industry relationships provide the ability to cover a customer’s complete apple manifest in a single stop,” Hartmann said.

Pacificpro’s marketing and promotion plans this season include the ability and readiness to cross-dock or consolidate orders to reduce the number of pickups necessary to assemble loads, he said. 

“We run local hauls daily to nearly every warehouse in the Yakima Valley and can offer this service to additional third-party clients through our partnership with Glacier Peak Cold Storage,” Hartmann said. “We don’t promote any specific proprietary varieties but represent them all through our various grower-shipper relationships across the Pacific Northwest.”

Despite the shorter Washington crop, Hartmann said promotion opportunities exist with several underrepresented apple varieties, such as Ambrosia, Crimson Delight, Autumn Glory and others.

“We are also promoting opportunities on smaller sizing (150, 163, 175 count), 12/3-pound 2.25-inch apple bags as well as larger-sizing pears which trended to the larger end of the manifest this season,” he said.

Pacificpro continues to expand its product offerings and LTL capabilities into every market domestically, he said.