Articles

Importer finds niche by carving out niches

Article in The Produce News

Philadelphia – Dennis Cohen is not your classic American produce guy. He was born and raised in South Africa. Then he was educated and worked as a certified public accountant in South Africa and the United States before enjoying a successful career in U.S. banking.

In an industry with produce roots growing many decades deep Mr. Cohen started his produce import firm, SA Direct Fruit LLC Fresno, CA, in 1996. “I carve niches within commodities,” he said, explaining his quiet success. Within a pineapple business dominated by global players, he has built a strong business importing fist-sized pineapples from South Africa. In the voluminous citrus business, he developed the North American market for Cypriot citrus growers. And competing with a variety of marketing players, he also carved a niche in the Spanish clementine deal in the United States. “I am not interested in doing a high-volume business,” he said. “I can’t compete with the major guys, and I don’t want to.”

The Produce News caught up with Mr. Cohen one icy January night at the Philadelphia Airport Marriott Hotel, amid one of his endless globe-trotting adventures to assure all the details were in place to maintain his product positioning in this market. In the Spanish clementine business, he said, “I only handle good fruit.” In seeking growers, “I aim for the top guy doing an excellent job, and not receiving high volume. Because I represent guys that own both trees and packinghouses, I can do it any way my customers want.” Thus, Mr. Cohen both brings his growers and retail buyers together at every opportunity to establish clear communication, and travels half the time to reinforce retailer needs. To offer retailers something different is more expensive, but it fills the all-important niche, Mr. Cohen noted. His firm has several firsts within the produce industry, he proudly noted. The “chubby, plump, yellow, sweet,” fist-sized pineapple is unique enough to have warranted a story in Better Homes & Gardens. Even the core of this pineapple is sweet and edible, according to Mr Cohen. With a retail price of around $2, the four-inch-tall (plus stem) pineapple “has a limited market. It’ll never be a high-volume item. This I not going against Dole and Del Monte Gold.”

But the pineapple does sell all over the United States 40-45 weeks a year. “It’s got to be here consistently” to serve one of many retailer demands. It was the first item his company imported, starting in 1996. It is grown in a small part of South Africa and shipped to the United States by air. Furthermore, he said, “I was the first guy to ever bring Cyprus’ citrus into the United Stated. I advertise with the Cyprus government office in New York”.

As with Spanish growers, Mr. Cohen works directly with Cypriot grower-packer-exporters to get the product to U.S. buyers. Such work has taken a lot of determination to persuade that trade the U.S. produce standards are very unlike those of their traditional European market.

In April 2002, Mr. Cohen finalized his four-year work with the U.S. Department of Agriculture to open the U.S. market to Cyprus citrus. Lemons and Mandoras are the primary citrus products he imports from Cyprus. The name Mandora is a synthesis of Mand(-arine) and ora (nge), which it was given after considerable thought about this hybrid of a very high-quality fruit developed by cross-pollination of the two varieties.

According to information provided by Mr. Cohen, a Mandora orange has a rather flat shape and a deep orange color. The pulp is tender and extremely juicy, often exceeding 60 percent of the whole fruit’s weight. The juice is of outstanding color, while the flavor is extremely sweet but well balanced with acidity and has a strong, rich aroma. It does not develop delayed bitterness. Mandoras are imported from January into April.

Cypriot lemon varieties imported are Eureka and Lapithiodiko. Another specialty item handled by SA Direct is the Forelle pear from South Africa. The company also handles a range of grape varieties and citrus from Chile, Mexico and other countries.

In his business, he said, “We talk about what is in the box, not the brand, I want the (grower) company’s name and that owner’s name on the box. I’d love to have my name on the box,” but he said it is much more productive for the grower-packer to want to maintain his reputation by pleasing a foreign market.

“We have defined our business with unique things that no one has every done,” Mr. Cohen said, “Yet we still handle commodities that people have seen. I would like to find the Holy Grail, like the kiwi or something, that we don’t have yet.”

Another unusual aspect of Mr. Cohen’s career involves developing a citrus stickering machine for Tri Citrus Inc. in Porterville, CA.

Mr. Cohen immigrated to the United States from South Africa in 1976. He credits his wife, Janis, a Fresno, CA, native whom he met as he worked in accounting, for being absolutely supportive of his intensive work on SA Direct, which yielded 1.5 million miles of travel in the last seven years.

His professional osmosis toward the produce business came through work in the agricultural division of the Wells Fargo Bank in California. From there, he moved in 1991 to work for D’Arrigo Bros. Co. of California’s fruit division in Reedley, CA. Mr. Cohen eventually helped D’Arrigo sell that stone fruit business, then began his own firm.

He cited the D’Arrigo Bros Co. patriarch, Andy D’Arrigo, as being one of several key people who have helped him develop his business. Other such critical allies include Sam Perricone of Sam Perricone Citrus Inc. in Los Angeles; the leaders of Frieda’s Inc. in Los Angeles; DNE World Fruit Sales in Fort Pierce, FL, Pandol Bros. In Delano, CA; John Vena Inc. in Philadelphia; E. Armata Inc. in New York; and Andrews Bros. Inc. in Detroit.

He credits Lou Vanechanos of USDA’s Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service for tremendous work in overcoming phytosanitary issues for importing fruit, and fruit expediter Carapella Enterprises Inc. In Bensalem, PA, for being critical to handling SA Direct’s logistics.