PALM DESERT, Calif. — West Coast Produce Expo strikes a balance of fun, networking, inspiration and serious business in a way few produce shows can. Enthusiasm on the show floor was high as exhibitors discussed everything from what's in season to new product innovation to flavor-packed fruits and vegetables, and most importantly why they return to this dynamic event in the desert year after year.
Natalia Merienne, president, CEO and sales director for Queen Fresh Produce, formerly Anya Produce/Avocado Queen, has a special connection to West Coast Produce Expo.
“I started coming to West Coast Produce Expo seven years ago, and it changed my life,” she said. “I got my first customer here, and I want to come to this show again and again.”
Not only did Merienne launch her successful produce business at WCPE, she also met the love of her life, whom she will marry later this summer, at the show.
Queen Fresh Produce debuted its new avocado oil in extra virgin and refined as well as its avocado ghee at the show. Merienne says the avocado ghee has a high smoke point and is more nutritious than traditional ghee. She also said that three different Michelin starred restaurants are already using the product.
The team at NatureSweet was ready to engage with attendees at West Coast Produce Expo 2025.
“What's been attractive about the West Coast produce Expo is simply the environment,” said Rob Thompson, national sales director for NatureSweet. “It's a smaller floor and offers more access to customers. Quite frankly, we get to have more intimate conversations and the opportunity to have more in-depth discussions around the products that we have showcased here and then our ongoing business.”
Specifically, Thompson shared how NatureSweet is a greenhouse grower with a purpose.
“We want to empower the lives of the agricultural workers in North America through a profitable business model,” said Thompson, who added NatureSweet is vertically integrated with farms in both Mexico and Arizona.
WCPE also provided an opportunity for NatureSweet to showcase its expanded offerings.
“Everybody knows us for our Cherub tomato, but we're not just a snacking tomato grower. We are now a grower of peppers and cucumbers,” Thompson said. “When you look at what we're bringing to the table, we're bringing not only the No. 1 snacking tomato, but now we're becoming a much bigger player with peppers and cucumbers.”
Misionero featured an array of fresh options in its Garden Life line of conventional greens and its Earth Greens organic line.
In its Earth Greens line, Misionero's Mayra Marin Oviedo showed off the company's wide variety of options including organic chopped romaine, organic cole slaw and organic kale.
Romaine hearts with the butts or ends removed were a featured item in the Garden Life conventional line.
West Coast Produce Expo's intimate show floor is also a draw for date company Joolie's.
“We love coming to West Coast produce Expo, because No. 1, it's in our backyard. Our dates are grown in Coachella, here, about 30 miles down the road, and we just love how intimate the show is,” said Amanda Sains-Harris, vice president of marketing. “We see so many friendly faces with our retail partners. We're maintaining our relationships, making new relationships, and — of course — having so many great times at all the events throughout the show.”
With its colorful and clever branding, including its “Date-ing Booth” at WCPE, Joolie's is reinventing the date category.
“Six and a half years ago, Joolie's got started with really the idea to disrupt the date category,” said Sains-Harris. “At the time, dates were a little bit of a sleepy category. Now it's amazing. It's up 43% year over year.
“And Joolie's really came out of the idea of having fun branding that is with delicious, organic, premium quality fruit, and also with branding that makes people smile and branding that attracts millennial and Gen Z consumers [so] that they want to share with their friends, online and in real life.”
While Joolie's began as an organic Medjool date company, it has expanded its offerings over the years to include dates in pouches and tubs as well as Date Pops (date and nut energy bites) in a variety of flavors including brownie bites, cinnamon bun, lemon bar and peanut butter jelly. And earlier this year, the company introduced an organic and conventional Deglet date.
While Medjool dates are known as the king of dates, the Deglet date is a smaller variety known as the queen of dates.
“Deglets are much smaller and lighter than a Medjool date, and they're a lot easier to harvest,” Sains-Harris said. “Medjool dates are a labor of love — they're pollinated by hand, harvested by hand, pitted by hand and sorted by hand.
“Deglet dates are just a lot easier to process,” she continued, “so I don't want to call them a cheap date, but they're a better value date.”
Sains-Harris says Joolie's date products are available in about 10,000 retail locations nationwide.
Baby Baby Produce shared its new ornamental pumpkins including Lolita, Noche, Dune, Luna and more. Lolita is striking green and yellow, while Noche is a dramatic black.
The company also featured its NFL Licensed Sporticulture and college team-themed painted pumpkins, available nationwide.
“We plant to order, so we're almost planted for the season, but we keep the door open for new business,” said Michele Youngquist. “We also have a really tight production. We harvest beginning in August, and by September, it's over.”
The bottom line, according to Youngquist: Retailers should get their orders in now.
As a marketing organization, the Idaho Potato Commission exhibits at WCPE to meet with customers important to its shippers and to network.
“The West Coast produce Expo is a great way for us to meet all of our customers that are so important to our shippers,” said Ross Johnson, vice president of retail. “It's difficult for us as a marketing organization [because] we're not here to sell a product or try to gain more sales; we're here to network, and that's what we love about this show. It allows you the opportunity to network with so many different people in different aspects of our industry.”
The timing of WCPE also allows the Idaho Potato Commission to provide retail buyers with an update on planting.
“We finished planting just a few weeks ago,” Johnson said. “Category managers and buyers want to know: Is it on time? Was it late?”
Johnson says this year is looking strong.
“We've actually had a really mild spring, which is great for our farmers,” he said. “We've got plenty of water from this winter, so there's no concerns about being able to get this crop the nutrients and the water that it needs to keep that high quality that consumers have come to expect out of Idaho.”
It was a feast of fresh snacking at the Fresh Innovations/Yo Queiro! booth at WCPE, where Crystal Berry sampled two onion dips: Smokehouse Onion Dip and Jalapeno Onion Dip. Also on tap, three different varieties of guacamole, including Mexico-inspired, chunky and original.
The company also featured Escabeche pickled veggies made with carrots, jalapenos, cauliflower and white onions.
Homegrown Organic Farms CEP Scott Mabs says a key reason to attend WCPE is to engage with the produce community.
“It's so nice to get together, be face to face with people, talk through the things that are affecting the industry right now, and to be able to understand a little bit more where our customers are coming from and what their shoppers are looking for,” he said.
Homegrown Organic Farms also attends WCPE to share its mission of sustainability.
“We have always had a goal to be the most caring and trusted produce ecosystem in the world,” Mabs said. From its certified organic and regenerative fields to its Equitable Food Initiative certification, sustainability is an important thread tying Homegrown Organic Farms' efforts together.
Homegrown Organic Farms, which works with stone fruit, citrus, grapes, berries and fall fruits, is on a mission to care for the land and to care for people.
“Caring has always been kind of the foundation of what we do,” Mabs said.
As part of this care, Homegrown Organic Farms has been EFI certified for five years.
“When the Equitable Food Initiative first came out, we looked at it and determined that it supported a lot of what we already believed in and were already trying to do within our organization,” he said. “It's brought benefit into our organization because of some of the systems that they employ, and being able to really make sure that production level — whether that's irrigators in the field or packers on the line — are really getting the right communication through all the way to management and that their voice is being heard.”
In today's tight labor market, EFI certification also helps with talent retention, Mabs said.
“Being EFI certified really helps retain good people who care about what they do, and who show up on time every day and do a good job,” he said. “A lot of the changes that have been taking place in the last six months are going to create a much tighter labor market, and EFI has been a benefit to make sure that the people who work for us don't want to leave. They want to stay and be a part of that team because they know they're being cared for.”
For Angela Hernandez, vice president of marketing for Trinity Fruit Company, WCPE is an opportunity to grow relationships with new and existing customers.
“Like many suppliers, we're always trying to showcase our products and continue to grow our relationships, so it's important to be here,” Hernandez said.
At WCPE 2025, the focus was on the company's recently launched cranberry juices.
“It's the only cranberry juice on the market that is not from concentrate, contains zero sugars and is all natural, just like the rest of our juices,” she said.
At showtime, Trinity Fruit Company was in full force on its stone fruit harvest including
peaches, plums and nectarines.
“Fruit is looking good; size is looking good,” Hernandez said, “and we didn't have crazy weather issues, so we're coming into the harvest season pretty strong and really thankful.”
More from West Coast Produce Expo 2025:
- Seen and Heard at West Coast Produce Expo 2025: Expanded Offerings, New Introductions
- Seen and heard at West Coast Produce Expo 2025: From cherries to mushrooms and more
- Seen and heard at West Coast Produce Expo 2025
- Seen and heard at West Coast Produce Expo 2025: New exhibitors, new products
- West Coast Produce Expo's tour spotlights fresh production
- West Coast Produce Expo 2025 celebrates Women in Produce
- WCPE donates 19,000 pounds of produce to communities in need