Los Angeles, CA – Coosemans Los Angeles Shipping supported the Los Angeles Food Policy Council (LAFPC) since its inception in 2011. The LAFPC works with policy-makers and academics on improving how food is distributed in LA County. The non-profit advisory council describes its mission as, “A collective impact initiative, working to make Southern California a Good Food region for everyone—where food is healthy, affordable, fair and sustainable.”
Extending this concept of Good Food, Coosemans Los Angeles Shipping has developed partnerships with regional fruit and vegetable suppliers to enhance the availability of fresh local produce and to improve the welfare of the community. An example of this unique collaboration is facilitated by Coosemans LA Shipping between produce distributors, growers, the families who qualify for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) and the WIC-only retailers. In what Coosemans LA Shipping Dir. of Business Development Jill Overdorf describes as, “A win-win-win arrangement”, growers with fruit that is cosmetically blemished or undersized for the specifications of most retailers but otherwise perfectly delicious and wholesome can now be sold to WIC-only stores at a discounted price making it more available to needy families. “This is fruit that may otherwise be discarded by the suppliers and the costs associated with its production taken as a total loss,” explains Overdorf. Coosemans LA Shipping arranges for the fruit to be bagged by the growers, reducing its cost while maintaining a slim margin. Fruit involved in the program includes popular items such as petite avocados, bagged organic Valencia oranges, organic heirloom Washington navel oranges, organic Crimson Gold apples and Ojai Pixie tangerines.
In the first four years of the program close to 400 tons of local specialty produce were sold at a much lower price than the regular wholesale price of products with typical retail specifications. “The produce industry is very bottom line driven,” says Overdorf. “Of course we need to look after our bottom line, but it’s important to strive for collaborative and community-based ways to approach profitability. That kind of philosophy and commitment to transparent negotiations make this kind of model possible.”
To extend this model to small local retailers, Coosemans LA Shipping is working with the Los Angeles Food Policy Council’s LA Corner Market Program to help bring healthy, affordable produce to underserved neighborhoods. It’s another example of how for-profit and non-profit entities work together in the produce industry to ensure that all residents of LA County have access to fresh, local, seasonal and high quality produce.
A fixture on the Los Angeles Wholesale Produce Market since 1982, Coosemans Los Angeles, Inc. and Coosemans L.A. Shipping, Inc. (CLA+S) have been leaders in the sourcing of uncommon specialty produce for the local market and throughout North America.
Source: Coosemans Los Angeles, Inc. and Coosemans L.A. Shipping, Inc.
