United’s New Compensation Survey Polls Thirty Job Functions Multiple Industry Segments
Nationwide
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[Cover art]
Bonuses account, on average, for 30 percent of C-suite executive (CEO, COO, CFO) compensation,
according to a new survey of produce industry compensation and benefits released today by the United
Fresh Foundation, through its Center for Leadership Excellence.
The confidential survey of 119 produce industry companies measures employee compensation and
benefit data for a wide range of full-time positions including sales and marketing, production and
operations, quality control and assurance, administration, finance and accounting, and executives. The
survey was open to U.S.-based produce industry employers including grower-shippers, brokers,
wholesaler-distributors, importers, exporters and fresh-cut processors.
“This new report offers compensation data from multiple market segments across the nation,” said United
Fresh Senior Vice President of Member Services Victoria Backer. “This is a terrific yardstick by which
produce companies can gauge their salary and benefit levels to ensure their competitiveness within the
industry, increase profitability, and not only attract new talent, but also retain the valuable employees
already on the team.”
United’s compensation survey shows detailed salary and benefits information on companies, sorted by
ownership type, type of business, produce sales volume, number of full-time employees and geography.
The survey represents a wide range of the industry with regard to company size, with 32 percent of
responses coming from companies with between 100 and 499 full time employees, and almost 17 percent
coming from companies with fewer than 20 full time employees. Also represented is a large range of
sales volumes, including 30 percent of responses from companies doing more than $100 million in annual
volume, and 22 percent from companies doing less than $15 million in sales annually.
Additional information in the compensation report includes:
o
o
o
Adjustments to salary structure during the current fiscal year and anticipated
adjustments for the coming year
Basic healthcare plans provided by companies
Retirement plans offered by companies
The survey concept was developed by the United Fresh Grower-Shipper Board, which identified an
important need for a national compensation survey for the fresh produce industry. To help ensure the
broadest and most beneficial input for the produce supply chain, a task force with members from the
United Fresh Grower-Shipper Board, Fresh-Cut Processor Board, and Wholesaler-Distributor Board was
formed in December 2010. The Task Force reviewed and provided input to help determine the top 30
positions within the industry that would be most valuable to industry members. In February 2011, the
survey was sent to the industry and 119 surveys were completed. Industry Insights, an Ohio-based
company that specializes in industry compensation research, administered the survey on behalf of
United’s Foundation.
“The produce industry competes with other industries for attracting and keeping the best talent. United’s
Grower-Shipper Board strongly supported the idea of conducting a national compensation survey to help
industry employers stay competitive in the workplace,” said Fred Williamson, president of Andrew &
Williamson Fresh Produce and chairman of United’s Grower-Shipper Board.
The final survey report is now available to members of United Fresh for $495 and non-members for $695.
Companies who participated in the survey receive an additional discount. The survey can be purchased
here, and more information is available by contacting Victoria Backer at 202-303-3400, ext. 408, or
vbacker@unitedfresh.org.
United Fresh Working Group Updating Audits Benchmarking Matrix
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The United Fresh Produce Association’s Food Safety and Technology Council has re-opened the Audits
Benchmarking Matrix for updating and inclusion of other fresh produce auditing organizations. The Audits
Benchmarking Matrix provides the fresh produce industry with an on-line, searchable, side-by-side
comparison of how auditing organizations say they manage their audit process and assure the quality of
their audits and auditors. Since the release of the first edition of the Audits Benchmarking Matrix in 2009,
more than a thousand users have accessed the tool, which is available by clicking here.
With the Audits Benchmarking Matrix, users can search and compare various features that are critical to
the quality, reliability and integrity of these organizations' audit programs; assess the quality features of
an audit or standards setting organization; and make more informed decisions about which organizations'
audit, auditor and audit performance quality programs best align with your suppler quality programs.
“The first edition of the Audit Benchmarking Matrix was a culmination of great feedback and information
we collected from the audit organizations and standard owners most commonly used by the fresh
produce industry,” said Gail Murray, leader of the working group that developed the audit matrix. Ms.
Murray is Senior Manager, Safety & Quality, at Disney Consumer Products. “Audit organizations have
continued to improve their policies and auditor training, so now is the time to update the Matrix and add
other auditor organizations that the industry uses. Also, in the interest of making this tool as user-friendly
as possible, we hope that users of the matrix will reach out to the working group with comments and
suggestions as to how its usefulness can be improved.”
“A company’s selection or acceptance of an audit organization depends on their trust in the skills and
credibility of an organization’s auditors and audit process,” said United Fresh Senior Vice President Food
Safety and Technology Dr. David Gombas. “The Audits Benchmarking Matrix asks the audit organizations
the questions that produce companies and their customers would ask themselves, in a format that is
searchable from a desktop.”
The Audits Benchmarking Matrix is free of charge and may be accessed by clicking here. Comments and
questions on the Audits Benchmarking Matrix can be directed to Dr. Gombas at 202-303-3411 or
dgombas@unitedfresh.org.
California Members Roll Out the Red Carpet for Leadership Class 17
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Insert LC1 photo with caption: Beachside President John Jackson showcases the company’s artichokes
The twelve members of the United Fresh Produce Industry Leadership Program Class 17 initiated their
year-long journey with visits to United Fresh member companies throughout central California.
Insert LC2 photo with caption: The class samples new varieties at the Sun World R&D Facility in Wasco,
CA
The program, which is focused on developing future industry leaders, kicked off in San Luis Obispo last
week. Touring several growing, packing and processing facilities, the fellows were able to gain a better
understanding of how other businesses operate, including some of the current challenges that affect the
produce industry.
Insert LC3 photo with caption: Class 17 gathers among the tree fruit at WESPak Sales
United would like to extend a warm thank you to the many United Fresh members who opened their
facilities and shared their knowledge and hospitality with the leadership class, including Apio, Beachside,
DuPont R&D, Fazio Marketing, Grimmway Farms Naturipe Farms, Paramount Citrus, Sun World
International, Talley Farms, and WESPak Sales.
Special thanks also go out to DuPont Crop Protection, sole sponsor of the program since its inception in
1995.
Growth Opportunities Explored in Nutrition Webinar Next Week
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Next Tuesday, July 26, United Fresh will examine recent policy changes in school meals and increased
funding for the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Snack Program, and how those developments and others like
them create new sales and business opportunities for fresh produce companies.
Schools: A New Produce Sales Opportunity is the latest in United’s Summer Webinar Series, presented
by 3M Food Safety. During the program, attendees will learn how produce business leaders capitalize on
these opportunities and why schools, more than ever before, are looking for great produce food service
distributors.
Like the inaugural edition on E-Verify and farm labor, this webinar features policy experts, produce
business leaders and school food officials who will examine how new school meals regulations will double
the amount of produce schools serve.
Speakers at the webinar include Tony Freytag, director of sales and marketing at Crunch Pak Sliced
Apples, Cincinnati Public Schools Foodservice Director Jessica Shelly, Muir Copper Canyon Farms
President and CEO Phil Muir, and Dr. Lorelei DiSogra, United Fresh vice president of nutrition and
health.
As vice-chairman of the United Fresh-Cut Processor Board, and director of sales and marketing of the
largest producer of fresh-cut sliced apples, Tony Freytag knows firsthand that schools are an important
sales opportunity for popular fresh-cut fruits and vegetables. During the webinar, Freytag will discuss how
the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Snack Program and the new school meals requirements benefit Crunch
Pak and why reaching schools is important for his business.
Jessica Shelly oversees 53 Cincinnati Public Schools, all of which will have salad bars by the fall of 2011.
Shelley purchases a wide variety of fresh fruits and vegetables and as part of the webinar, she explains
what produce items schools want to purchase, the purchasing process, what she looks for in produce
distributors and how the new school meals guidelines will increase the amount of produce her school
district purchases.
Phil Muir of Muir Copper Canyon Farms capitalizes on school business in Utah and several surrounding
states, and schools account for a significant share of his overall business. Listen as Muir takes you
through how he builds school business relationships and how the federal school meals policy changes
create major growth opportunities for foodservice distributors like him.
United’s Lorelei DiSogra is a leader in driving federal nutrition policy changes that increase children’s
access to and consumption of fruits and vegetables. DiSogra examines how the new school meals
regulations double the amount of fruits and vegetables in school meals and looks ahead to upcoming
school nutrition policy changes that will create even more sales opportunities for produce.
More information on the Summer Webinar Series, including registration details, may be found by clicking
here. This program is available exclusively to United Fresh members. If you are not a member and would
like to join United Fresh today, click here to complete a membership application. Click here to learn more
about the full complement of United Fresh member benefits and services.
PLACEHOLDER FOR SYNGENTA LEADERSHIP PROGRAM STORY
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[insert Syngenta photo with caption: Members of the Syngenta leadership program meet with United staff
in Washington this week.]
GLOBALG.A.P. to Review Version 4 Standard at Florida Workshop
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Representatives from Bethesda, MD-based GLOBALG.A.P. North America will review the regulations,
documentation and audit checklist of the Version 4 standard at a workshop in Ft. Pierce, FL, July 25 and
26. Designed to help industry fully understand the GLOBALG.A.P. certification process for fruit and
vegetables, the workshop will use classroom discussion, case studies, and thorough question and answer
sessions to deepen attendees’ understanding of how GLOBALG.A.P.'s standard applies in practice.
Upon completion of the training, participants will be better prepared to audit under and implement the
Version 4 standard.
The workshop is intended for producers, suppliers, and retailers who rely on GLOBALG.A.P. for their farm
assurance process; auditors and inspectors who audit GLOBALG.A.P.; quality managers, technical
advisors, consultants, and farm assurers who are involved in implementing GLOBALG.A.P. certification
systems; and individuals who are unfamiliar with GLOBALG.A.P. and would like to learn more.
Experience with GLOBALG.A.P. is not a pre-requisite for the workshop.
The workshop will be held at the Indian River Research and Education Center in Ft. Pierce, and more
information is available by clicking here or contacting GLOBALG.A.P.’s Oriana Lisker at 240-482-4852
Meet Your United Fresh Board of Directors
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[insert Ana Hooper]
Ana Hooper
Vice President, Total Quality
Darden Restaurants
Orlando, Florida
Tell us about your background. Is it in agriculture?
No, I have a very diverse background, not one that you’d typically find in the produce arena, I’m a
microbiologist by training.
Darden uses a risk based, Hazard Analysis of Critical Control Points (HACCP) strategy to ensure
that all suppliers, even smaller-scale suppliers adhere to the same stringent food safety
requirements as would their larger, national and international counterparts. What successes have
you seen from that approach?
Food safety is our number one priority. What we really try to drive home is that food safety and quality
begins at the source. We don’t just deal with the large players, we deal with the small regional players as
well, whether that’s produce or breadsticks or any other products that are served on our tables. As a
company, we understand the need to wear the hat of the buyer and the receiver, but also help to develop
the smaller players so that they can meet our expectations from a food safety and quality perspective.
Dealing with local and regional suppliers does take a little more time, but we are really looking forward to
using the new Audit Benchmarking Matrix, which will be very beneficial for the smaller local and regional
suppliers, helping them to be better aligned with the needs of companies like ours. It will ensure that
we’re all speaking the same language. From our point of view, we can’t remain static. We know that we
need to raise the bar on food safety, but at the same time, we have to keep it simple. The Audit
Benchmarking Matrix helps local and regional suppliers self-assess, and it helps us ensure that their
practices are aligned with our needs.
Worldwide, Darden has approximately 1500 suppliers supplying 2200 products from 35 countries.
Given those top-line numbers, it comes as no surprise that you are one of United’s most vocal
voices on traceability. Can you give us some insight into Darden’s embrace of traceability, and
perhaps what lessons can be learned from your experience, both in a foodservice context and in a
general industry context?
For all of our food suppliers, we take traceability very seriously. Through the Bioterrorism Act, we had to
ensure traceability of our products one step forward and one step back, and although we are not yet
automated through GS1, we are moving in that direction. We have made the company-wide decision to
move forward with GS1, and we are very supportive of the Produce Traceability Initiative (PTI).
Personally, I sat on the task force with the National Fisheries Institute on the seafood side as well. At the
end of the day, it really doesn’t matter what the product is, we just have to be sure that we’re both nimble
and quick if we have to isolate a product that does not meet a food safety standard. Public health
absolutely comes first. So, on traceability, we look forward to that day when everything has a barcode and
is automated, but in the meantime, we expect our suppliers to have the capacity to tell us what they
produce, where it was shipped, and where they source it. Even if it’s a manual function, we expect all of
our suppliers, regardless of product, to answer those questions within a two-hour timeframe.
Red Lobster is one of the pioneers in the casual dining category, but Darden has also been very
successful within the fine dining category as well, with The Capital Grille and Seasons 52. What
lessons have you been able to take from your success in casual dining and parlay into the fine
dining category?
I can only speak from a food safety and quality standpoint, but from that perspective, the approach is
always the same: risk-based, HACCP-focused. If you look at all of our food supply from 35 different
countries, it is a risk assessment, and we follow it all the way back, as far as we can take it. On the
produce side, go back to the growers, and follow that product until it’s in our hands, being served in our
restaurants. Our supply chain begins as far back as we can take it, and does not end until the guest
consumes our food in our restaurant. We’ve applied that concept very successfully to all Darden brands,
whether it’s casual dining or fine dining. We hold not only our suppliers and all of the distribution chain,
but also ourselves accountable with a risk-based, HACCP-focused plan applied evenly and equally
across all of our restaurants.
Tell us about your professional background.
I am a microbiologist, and I got my training at Florida State. I started in clinical microbiology with the
hospital systems in Atlanta before I moved to Orlando 31 years ago. At the time, Red Lobster was looking
to start up a microbiology lab, and I thought, “well I can do that.” That’s how I made the switch from
clinical to the food business. I’ve stayed ever since. I was born in Cuba and I’m fluent in Spanish. I grew
up in Chicago, and when my family moved back to Florida for my dad’s health reasons, I found my way to
Florida State.
How did you decide to study microbiology?
It’s funny because I initially majored in pre-med, so I could go on and be a medical doctor. I got
sidetracked however, fell in love and got married. Microbiology was a passion of mine ever since I was
young, and I get that from my father, who was a pharmacist. He passed on his love of the sciences to me.
Somewhere along the line I shifted gears from pursuing medical studies and settled on microbiology and
prevention of passing disease-bearing organisms to people.
Between the hospital industry and the foodservice industry, you’ve chosen two sectors that are
centered on serving people. Is there something about that aspect of the industry, about being so
close to the end consumer, which draws you to it?
There is, and I find it very rewarding. It’s rewarding to know that what my team and I do each and every
day provides an assurance to our guests that the food served in our 1900 restaurants is safe.
Tell us about your family?
I have two grown kids: a daughter, Julie, who is finishing up nursing school in Philadelphia, and a son,
John, in Santa Monica, who is an aspiring actor. I have two very artistic kids. Julie began her career in the
beauty business, but has since found her love of the sciences as well.
What do you do to unwind?
I enjoy doing the simple things. I travel quite a bit internationally, so in my down time, I go to the beach
and unwind. I enjoy nature and meditation, and the quiet, relaxing things.
Chairman’s Roundtable Thanks 2011 Supporters
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United Fresh’s Chairman's Roundtable provides extra support for programs in government relations, food
safety, nutrition policy and other areas to help grow the produce industry. [TEND] We are pleased to
recognize the following companies who have committed to the 2011 Chairman’s Roundtable:

Cabbage, Inc., Westlake, OH
The Chairman's Roundtable is an opportunity for United Fresh member companies to contribute above
and beyond their basic dues. Roundtable members are industry leaders who set the pace in building
United Fresh's strength in areas that do not generate their own revenue. Members of Chairman's
Roundtable enjoy special recognition throughout the year for their support. For more information on the
Chairman’s Roundtable, please contact Senior Director of Membership Miriam Miller Wolk at 202-3033410.
New Member Welcome
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Each week, United Fresh welcomes its newest partners in building a stronger produce industry.

Texas G & S Investments, Inc., McAllen, TX
United Fresh thanks all current members for their dedication to the association and the produce industry.
Please let us know whenever we can be of service to you. For more details about the benefits of
membership, please contact Jeff Oberman at 831-422-0940 or Miriam Miller at 202-303-3410.
Upcoming United Fresh Events
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Events in your area, designed to grow your business.
[insert dayplanner]

Summer Webinar Series: Nutrition and Health
July 26

Summer Webinar Series: Food Safety Law
August 30

Produce Inspection Training Program
September 12-16, USDA Fresh Products Branch National Inspectors’ Training and Development
Center, Fredericksburg, VA

Summer Webinar Series: Policy Insights
September 20

2011 Washington Public Policy Conference
October 3-5, Hyatt Regency Washington on Capitol Hill, Washington, DC