One unlikely agricultural company took root during the Silicon Valley dotcom boom in the 1990s that launched tech giants including Amazon, Google and PayPal,  – The FruitGuys. CEO Erin Mittelstaedt, shares the company’s origin story, smiling as she recounts the tale. “In 1998, my brother and a friend of his found out about all these people who were working at dotcoms – eating chocolate covered espresso beans all day and drinking RedBull. And my brother had the idea of ‘Hey, maybe we can bring them something healthier.’ They started packing fruit out of their apartment in North Beach and delivering it to businesses in San Francisco.” 

Farm-fresh fruits, delivered to your desk

Nearly 30 years later, business is still booming for The FruitGuys. They provide offices and schools across the United States with regular shipments of delicious fruits and healthy snacks. Beyond the convenience of a delivery service, another benefit of curated boxes by The FruitGuys is their 100% satisfaction guarantee.

The FruitGuys service takes the guesswork out of the equation because there’s no need to wonder if stone fruit is perfectly ripened or if apples are past their prime. Customers can rest assured that the fruit they’re receiving is in peak condition.

Erin notes, “The thing that makes us unique is our commitment to quality. Our product is checked at least three times before it goes to the client. We test fruit for their sugars. We also test the pressure, especially on apples, to make sure they’re firm. Quality is really important to us; we have a 100% satisfaction guarantee because we want to make sure the client is happy with what they’re receiving.”

The FruitGuys started with corporate deliveries, which remain popular to this day. Office clients can choose between nine different boxes of either conventional or organic produce or create a custom shipment to suit their needs.. The exact assortment included in each box changes all year long. Erin asserts, “Our goal is to pick the best of the season, they (customers) don’t have to call and make changes every week” because customers get a variety of fruit that shifts with the season without having to think about changing their order. She notes, “That works really well for them – they get the built-in variety and just put it out in the breakroom.”

Teaching kids the importance of produce in healthy eating 

California public schools proudly offer a nutritious breakfast and lunch to all students regardless of income – and The FruitGuys provides bulk produce, mixed produce boxes and pre cut produce to 130 schools throughout the state. Complimentary digital content, including nutrition education materials and staff resources help to reinforce the importance of healthy habits and to encourage students to explore new flavors and textures.

Erin shares, “We have posters that they can display in the schools to communicate where produce is from and how important it is to eat a rainbow. We have flyers for staff about proper food storage and usage. We also do some speaking engagements, assemblies on healthy movement and eating…it really runs the gamut.”

Partnering with local farms

To provide clients with the premium produce, The FruitGuys actively seek out partnerships with local growers. Erin proudly notes, “Our goal is to buy local whenever we can. We have a lot of great farms we’ve worked with for many years.” 

The FruitGuys purchases fruit from both large and small farms throughout the state – but they make a concerted effort to support smaller local farms whenever possible. “It’s important to support local farms because it is the foundation of our food system. We need big growers because we have a lot of people to feed, but we also need small growers to get products that you might not get elsewhere, to have more diversity, to support the local economy and the workers in that area.” She concludes, “It’s important for all of us to find ways to support those local communities and the farms.”

Balancing profit and purpose

The FruitGuys is a B-Corp business, which means they balance profit and purpose. Erin explains, “As a B Corp, we have a commitment to give back, and so we commit 20% of our profits to relieving hunger and to supporting small farms.” How do they do this? The FruitGuys Community Fund issues microgrants to small farms across the nation to support sustainable initiatives. She elaborates, “We look at sustainability not just on the environmental impact, but also on the impact of the farm. This could be anything from water catchment systems to solar installation to reduce their energy usage, to installing hoop houses so that they can grow longer -making the farm more economically sustainable as well.” Erin shakes her head and remarks, “It’s a hard job to farm. It takes a lot of work. It’s not very profitable. So any little bit that can keep that farm farming is super important to us.”

Learn more about some of the farms that partner with The FruitGuys!

Article by Hilary Rance. Photography by James Collier and Hilary Rance.