GrubMarket acquires London Fruit to further expand in Texas

San Francisco-based GrubMarket has acquired Pharr, Texas-based London Fruit.

Operating since 1981, London Fruit handles avocados, limes, mangoes and other tropical fruits sourced from its extensive network of producers across Mexico, Peru and other parts of South America, according to a news release.

London Fruit operates a facility in south Texas that spans almost 50,000 square feet, including refrigerated cold storage and a USDA organic-certified repacking space, the release said.

In addition to import and distribution, London Fruit offers value-added services such as custom packing, grading and private labeling, according to the release. The company has been co-owned by Barry London and Jerry Garcia.

After the acquisition, the business will continue to be managed by its current experienced and mission-driven leadership team, according to the release.

"When I started London Fruit over four decades ago, we were a small operation focused on just mangos and limes,” London said in the release. “Now, we can truly offer a taste of the tropics with a global operation focused on high-quality produce, superior packaging, and exceptional service. We are thrilled to join the GrubMarket team that shares our passion for utilizing technology and operational expertise to offer the freshest food to customers everywhere. We are also excited to access GrubMarket's impressive grower network and leverage its eCommerce and software ecosystem.”

GrubMarket CEO Mike Xu said in the release that he has admired the work done by London and Garcia to build London Fruit into a “cutting-edge” operator.

“They have put considerable effort into maintaining top food safety ratings and utilizing modern technologies to provide the highest-quality limes, avocados, and other specialty fresh produce,” Xu said. “This acquisition enables GrubMarket to further strengthen our presence in Texas, while fortifying our global sourcing capabilities in Mexico and South America. We are excited to welcome the London Fruit team to the GrubMarket family."

As a part of GrubMarket's portfolio, the release said London Fruit will now use GrubMarket's proprietary WholesaleWare software suite, the company's software-as-a-service platform that provides food industry wholesalers and distributors with financial management, sales and online ordering features, inventory management, lot traceability, grower accounting, and automated routing and logistics, as well as Orders IO, GrubMarket's custom-branded, mobile e-commerce solution.