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Pacific Produce

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Employer Introduction

Pacific Produce was founded over 20 years ago by George Panagiotopoulos in South San Francisco to provide fresh produce to food service providers.  Jennifer and Sarah (we) acquired Pacific Produce  in 2009 and became one of the only woman-owned produce companies in the Bay Area. We wanted a company that we could invest in, nurture and grow.  

Our vision for the company is to offer produce that fosters the skill and creativity of San Francisco chefs to delight their customers and to use our business expertise to optimize our customers' delivery experience. 

Sarah has spent over 10 years in CEO roles in companies ranging in size from $6MM to $100MM and has an extensive background in consumer product management. Jennifer is a CPA with 20 years of executive level financial management, customer service, human resources and information technology experience. We both spent years in businesses which involved warehousing, distribution and purchasing and worked together in an international furniture manufacturing company.  

Although Jennifer and Sarah are opposites in many ways, their skill sets are perfectly complementary. The team refers to Jennifer and Sarah as Felix and Oscar--from the Odd-Couple. 

Current Company: 
We know there are many produce companies our customers can use, so we continue to work every day on being the best option for customers by: 

  1. Expanding our customer service, 
  2. Broadening our produce offerings, 
  3. Initiating customer education outreach, 
  4. Improving our sourcing,
  5. Supporting our local farming community.  

We are one of the most flexible delivery companies in the Bay Area.  We have drivers on staff everyday to handle late orders and do not have a cut off time for late orders.  We also aim to provide a one-stop shopping experience for our customers.   

We offer a full range of dairy, eggs, fresh juices, spices, frozen foods, customized prepped items, imported olive oil and olives, dried fruits, nuts and flowers.  

We operate as a high touch service business and we aspire to give our customers up to the minute expert insight on price changes, availability and new seasonal items.  We provide our customers with insights and expertise via weekly newsletters, bi-monthly menu planning guides, as well as in-house presentations and seasonal sampling. Most importantly, we do not delegate our produce purchasing to a hired buyer as do most other produce companies.  

We are a family-owned company that's committed to supporting local, sustainably run, family farms.  We like the personal interaction with farmers/growers and the control this gives us over price and quality.  To reinforce our buying strategies, we donate a portion of our earnings to organizations which support local, sustainably run, family farms.  To date, we have actively supported CUESA (Center for Urban Education about Sustainable Agriculture), CAFF (Community Alliance with Family Farmers), UC Davis Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program and the Farmers' Market Coalition.  As a customer of Pacific Produce, you also are contributing to this local, sustainable effort.