CEO says Fresh Express drawn to Orlando by local OJ industry

When Chiquita first discussed the move of its subsidiary Fresh Express to Florida, the company said one factor was being closer to major customers such as Walt Disney World.

But that wasn’t the whole story, according to company executives.

They were also attracted by Florida’s quality of life, low tax environment and their Florida operations in orange juice. And they did not seek public money incentives to relocate.

The company left its headquarters in Charlotte, N.C., after just three years there.

Chiquita and Fresh Express are both partly owned by Brazilbased Cutrale Group.

“It’s more efficient for us to operate in Florida, rather than having one business in Florida and one in North Carolina. There was no advantage to that from a business standpoint. We have a large orange juice processing business here,” said Hugh Thompson, president of Cutrale Citrus Juices USA.

Cutrale has bought up a large percentage of Florida’s dwindling orange juice business, undeterred by the damage caused by the devastating citrus greening disease. Cutrale Citrus is based in Auburndale, just east of Lakeland, and has a processing plant in Leesburg.

Fresh Express opened its headquarters in Windermere last year. It employs about 105 people there and is still hiring for a few remaining positions.

Chiquita is based in Switzerland, but the Chiquita Banana USA division relocated to Fort Lauderdale, near its major port operations.

“We are in a category that is growing 8 to 10 percent per year,” said Ken Diveley, president and CEO of Fresh Express. “We think we have enough space and employees to take care of our business plans for the next few years.”

Diveley said the Fresh Express business is growing because of big demographic trends: aging populations, and more focus on good, healthier foods.

“What we saw with Chiquita was a lot of opportunities to grow the U.S. business through increased distribution,” Thompson said.

He said Cutrale is invested in the banana and fresh produce business permanently.

“We set up our businesses and invest in them based on what is good for the long term — not based on quarterly earnings or the short term,” Thompson said.

Some of Fresh Express’s produce is grown in Florida around Lake Okeechobee, including onions, radishes, tomatoes, cabbage and lettuce.

Thompson is well aware of the citrus greening threat. He sits on the board of directors for the Citrus Research Foundation.

“We are working with all the scientists to try to figure out this problem, and we have confidence the industry will figure it out,” Thompson said. “The recent approval of new bactericides was a promising development.”

Cutrale has been in Florida since 1996, when it purchased the juice business owned by Coca-Cola and Minute Maid.

In 2013 the company announced it would plant 12,500 acres of oranges, and build a large nursery. It’s completed about one-third of that project. In total, Cutrale had about 900 employees.