By Ellen Walsh

"We measure our success by maintaining current customers, and giving them new ideas to help them succeed. A lot of our growth has come from providing our customers with a quality product, in addition to building our growth with existing customers. We develop custom flavors for them, or adjust formulas to their area. A supermarket chain might want a raspberry fruit bar, but in South Florida, a raspberry flavor doesn't sell. There you need a tropical flavor fruit mix."

Started in 1984 by two brothers from Medellin, Columbia, Simon Bravo and Jorge Bravo Sr. opened up their first factory with a vast background in food processing and production. Raised in Latin America, and educated in the U.S., brothers Simon and Jorge had worked and traveled around the world for international factories , trouble shooting for major brand manufacturers for the majority of their working life. When they combined their knowledge of Latin America's consumption of frozen fruit, with their knowledge of manufacturing and processing, they knew exactly what would be a hit. Concentrating on what they knew best, they started small, and established themselves by producing quality fruit bars.

Their target market has always been those who wanted a fresh fruit, and all natural taste. Their first production facility was an entirely manual operation, (except for the machine that wraps the bars) concentrating on low overhead, and low cost. However the demand for their product took off so fast, that by 1988 they had already moved into a fully automated, 19,000 sq. ft production facility. The process is so automated, that once the fruit has begun processing, human hands never touch the product again until it is sealed. Strong in Private Label with grocery store chains, cruise ships and amusement parks such as Busch Gardens, Seaworld, Disney theme parks in Orlando, Florida. Naturally Fruit Corporation is a fully inspected facility. By government agencies and its private label customers.

Doug Gray, V.P of Sales for the company, attributes the popularity of their product to their high fruit content. " Our fruit bars are 55% percent fruit content, compared with other leading brands of 30%. In fact, some national brands are only 15% fruit. You can go as high as 80% for some Private Label, but it is extremely expensive." Although final price to the consumer is important, it does not dictate the choices they make in regard to quality. "We buy the fruit we use based on quality, not price. We buy our mangos from Santa Domingo, our blueberries from Maine, and our oranges, lemons and limes from right here in Florida." Product bought from other processors has to be of impeccable, unquestionable, quality. That is why they buy pineapple from Dole, and banana puree from Chiquita. Although raspberries can be purchased from other companies, the best product is right here, in the northwest. Processors here are better about removing stems and leaves. It makes for a better product.

Having production and manufacturing issues under control from an early start has allowed them the freedom to focus on their customer's needs. This has been the secret to their controlled, 25% per year, growth. They often work with their customers to develop custom flavors. Drawing on their childhood observations on the popularity of frozen fruit in South America, they were aware that not one flavor suited all. Different parts of the United States had different preferences, and they worked with their customers to find the formulas that worked best for them. In fact, that is how they moved from the frozen fruit bar part of the business into the frozen drink mix part of the business.

In 1994, when their customers started requesting a drink formula for the burgeoning smoothie business, they came up with a formula to be distributed in frozen, 1/2 gallon plastic containers with safety tops. It used the same fresh, high quality fruit as the fruit bars. It took a while to get the formula right. They had initially attempted to use the same formula as the fruit bar, but it wouldn't go through the equipment correctly, so it needed quite a bit of adjustment. They opted to go with a frozen drink mix, because it was the only way to handle the product without using any preservatives. This allows the shop owner to serve an all natural fruit drink.

The focus on the market place is international. Already in the United States under private label , the company's international focus is under their own name, Chunks O' Fruti. Already in Canada, Puerto Rico, the islands, and Hong Kong, they will soon be in Korea as soon as they develop special labeling requirements. They are increasingly getting solid leads off the internet. "What has changed about the internet," says Gray, " is that decision makers are now the ones coming on line looking for products. There is no wrong person to hear from."