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HOMESTEAD, FL
February 24, 2004
Brooks Tropicals, founded by J.R. Brooks over seventy-five years ago, is Florida’s largest tropical fruit and vegetable supplier. Since 1928, the company has maintained consistency in providing excellent quality, exceptional service and innovation in every aspect of its business. Today Brooks Tropicals is Florida’s largest tropical fruit and vegetable supplier.
Brooks Tropicals’ innovations have created changes in the produce industry and the markets it serves including its products, quality control procedures and shipping methods. Brooks' experience has led to innovative products like the Slimcado® avocado and pioneering the implementation of bagged limes. The company's commitment to increasing product awareness led to the successful marketing of star fruit. Today, Brooks Tropicals remains the dominant U.S. producer of star fruit.
Innovation has influenced all services Brooks Tropicals provides to its customers. The company was the first to hydrocool its avocados, use hot water treatment to control Mediterranean fruit fly in mangoes, and the first in Florida to install a refrigerated loading dock to ensure Continuous Cold Chain™ during storage and transport. Brooks has always been very aggressive in experimentation in production and distribution, and uses the most advanced research and technology for acclimatization and pest control. Its in-house quality control and research and development teams ensure that only the highest-quality produce reaches its customers.
Pal Brooks, president of Brooks Tropicals since 1966, has seen many companies in the produce industry driven out of business by inflexibility over the years. "It is crucial for firms to enjoy dancing with change. You can’t resist change, especially in an industry like ours that has low barriers to entry", Brooks said. With each new challenge, the company has quickly moved to fill in the gaps of its business such as its rapidly growing production of papayas.
For ten years, Brooks Tropicals has had a collaborative corporation between Florida and Belize in order to produce premium quality papayas. Since 1995, the firm’s Belize papaya operation has increased thirty-fold with 1000 acres currently producing an estimated 200,000 boxes of large papayas monthly. Known as Caribbean Red papayas, they display greenish-yellow skin and deep red flesh providing the customer with exceptional quality, taste and nutrition.
Another Brooks innovation is the Slimcado® avocado. Known for their light taste, smooth texture, low fat and fewer calories, SlimCado avocados have been a success since their debut in 2001. The SlimCado brand promotes the fact that these avocados have up to 50% less fat than the leading California avocado. To verify these claims Brooks established an in-house laboratory to test fruit using USDA-approved procedures. "The consumer acceptance of SlimCado has been overwhelming," said Neal Brooks, VP of Sales and Marketing. "We are in a health-conscious era where eating nutritious foods results in positive outcomes. Our avocados provide nutrition as well as great taste," he added.
Another star in the Brooks Tropicals line-up is shiny, delicious star fruit, available nearly every week of the year with promotable quantities in January and August. Other year-round specialties include Uniq fruit, coconuts, key limes, mangoes, Habañero peppers and Latin vegetables such as boniato, calabaza and many more.
Since 1928, Brooks Tropicals has been aggressive and innovative in order to bring the best produce possible to its customers. Over seventy-five years of experience has allowed the company to establish itself as the industry leader in the field of tropical produce.
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