Web site makes Fresno County produce into national brand
Published online on Saturday, Jun. 06, 2009
By Bethany Clough / The Fresno Bee

Mocha almonds and peach cobbler are becoming tools of economic development.

The locally grown snacks are examples of the types of food sold on www.GourmetShoppingNetwork.com, a new Web site touted as a way to market local produce across the nation.

The site was created by the people at Bouquet of Fruits, a 23-year-old Fresno company that sells fruit gift baskets with produce from local farms. It allows local growers to easily ship fresh produce to customers across the nation and allows mom-and-pop retailers to buy from them in small amounts.

The site is a form of branding for Fresno County, said Steve Geil, president of Economic Development Corp. serving Fresno County.

"As Napa has done for wine, Fresno County should be doing for produce, bringing everybody together under an umbrella," he said. "There is power in marketing Fresno County as the world's greatest source for produce."

To create the new site, Bouquet of Fruits founder Stephen Paul adapted the technology his company created to take orders and ship its gift baskets. He rents the technology to local growers who ship out their own produce.

Like other online ordering sites, shoppers place what they want to buy in a virtual shopping cart, get options for shipping and pay online.

But Paul found it challenging to find technology that could do those things for products with a short shelf life. Needs include handling overnight shipping for perishable and semi-perishable products, allowing buyers to pick the day they want it delivered, and factoring weekend delays into delivery time.

Paul created his own, hiring computer programmers to write code and tweaking the system over the past 14 years.

The new site is just getting started, with Kingsburg Orchards participating and Meridian Nut Growers of Clovis selling under the name San Joaquin Valley Farms. Paul is recruiting others.

Growers who want their own branded area on the site pay a one-time fee of $7,500 to $10,000, which includes use of the site, photos taken of the product at Bouquet of Fruits' studio and the ability for the grower to use its own label. The site also includes a limit on orders so growers aren't overwhelmed.

For now, Bouquet of Fruits is handling the packaging and shipping of the items, but it plans to shift that responsibility to the growers soon.

Clovis-based Wawona Frozen Foods plans to become part of the Gourmet Shopping Network, using it as a marketing tool.

"We sell millions of fruit cups to the USDA, but we have no way to get them to moms at home," said president Bill Smittcamp.

The company has faced challenges getting its products into grocery stores. It sells 100 types of fruit cups and desserts, including frozen fruit pops and individual-size frozen peach and raspberry cobbler.

He hopes to familiarize shoppers with his items by marketing them through the Gourmet Shopping Network.

"I'm hoping it will raise the awareness ... then I can go and show the grocery stores of America what kind of draw I'm getting just from the Internet," he said.

Paul is also planning to introduce a "pantry" section of the site for producers of single items. He said he sees plenty of people selling homemade items -- jam, hot mustard and beef jerky -- that could be sold online.

The sign-up fee for single items is $300 to $500.

In addition, the new Web site will include a way for small retailers across the country to sell products to their customers. For that site, Bouquet of Fruits adapted another Web site that allowed businesses to buy and send gift baskets.

"Now we've sort of formalized it for retailers for the same concept," Paul said.

Online retailers, for example, can purchase a membership and place the produce on their site with their own logos. The items will be shipped directly to the customer from the central San Joaquin Valley.

Paul said believes the site has the potential to increase business for participating growers and eventually create jobs.

"I'm on a mission to promote this region," he said. "I believe what we're doing will promote economic growth."