Alpine Fresh’s Yager sees South Florida as hub for Latin American produce trade

As co-founder and chief executive officer of Miami-based produce leader Alpine Fresh Inc., Walter Yager has, over the past 27 years, learned the value of listening – an appreciation he passes along to future generations through coaching youth baseball. In building Alpine Fresh into a major multinational grower, packer, shipper and marketer of asparagus, berries and other perishables, Yager leads a company team that recognizes that cutting a day from transport time can add three to four days to product shelf life. Optimizing Alpine Fresh’s supply chain, Yager also is realizing that South Florida can be expected to play a growing role in Latin American produce trade, as a hub for both imports and exports. Yager shares these insights and more in an exclusive interview with the American Journal of Transportation. When you and longtime friend [and company president] José Sanchez founded Alpine Fresh Inc. 27 years ago in a 250-square-foot office and just the two of you as the workforce, did you ever fathom you’d be operating out of a 50,000-square-foot corporate headquarters and have more than 4,000 employees worldwide? What’s special about growing a business like that? We never fathomed it. It was kind of one of those sink-or-swim scenarios where we had to work and said, “Let’s give this a shot.” It was either not pay the rent or try to make this thing work. Sometimes when you’re in that situation, you just focus on working and getting things done. You don’t really look at your five-year plan or your 10-year plan. You’re just working on your 10-hour plan. Sometimes we don’t even realize where we’re at, and people will come up to me and say, “Hey, it’s amazing you are doing this…” And I think, “Wow, you’re right, it is amazing.” We didn’t even think about it. we just did it. We just kept working, and, along the way, we’ve been blessed to surround ourselves with some really, really good people who have helped the company grow. That’s probably what’s been most special about it – the long-lasting relationships that we have with our employees and our growing partners, some who have been with us for over 25 years. One time, I took my son [Austin, who now works in Alpine Fresh’s procurement department] when he was about 8 or 9 years old to the office. We pulled up and he said, “Dad, you built Alpine?” I said, “Yeah,” puffing up all proud that my son was recognizing my efforts, and he turns and looks at the building and says, “How long did it take you to paint it?” You have moments like that and you think, “This is really special.” How important are transportation and logistics to you in the business of Alpine Fresh? Transportation and logistics is probably the single most key element after obviously Mother Nature and production at the farm level. The key is getting the product from Point A to Point B as quickly and efficiently as possible and with the best mode of transportation available. We just had a meeting today on that, and we need to continually find ways to do things better, be more efficient and streamline the operation from Point A to Point B. Every day that we can take off the logistics route probably translates into about three to four days of shelf life. If we can get them [retailers] a better product, they can in turn have a better product to sell and get more shelf life out of it. Along those lines, what do you see as the future for importation of produce into South Florida, as pioneered under the Florida Perishables Trade Coalition pilot program, as opposed to traditional routings above the 39th parallel through Northeast ports such as Philadelphia? I think South Florida is always going to play a role as a key component no matter what, just because of its geographic nature, not only for stuff coming in but also for stuff going down [to Latin America]. We see the ports [PortMiami and Port Everglades] as being a crucial player in the Southeastern markets, but it’s still a lot cheaper if I bring the boats to Philly and redeliver from Philly to let’s say a chain store in Maryland. As the South Florida ports gain efficiencies, they will become a more important player, allowing us to get the products to market quicker than other alternatives. We think the [South Florida] ports have a lot to offer, because it’s not only inbound trade but the southbound trade. I think there’s a big future in Florida being a hub for the global market, whether it be Brazil or elsewhere in South America, or whether it be Europe. Becoming a hub is key to the success of the ports as it will allow carriers to be more efficient and cut down their transit times. As we can expand the usage of items, as, for example, we can bring in blueberries under fewer restrictions and we can bring more items in, I think South Florida will become an even more important player. What are you doing now through South Florida ports? We use both Miami and Everglades, mainly Miami, and we’re bringing in blueberries, grapes, asparagus and avocados as the four main items. How much asparagus do you personally eat in a typical week? Most of our asparagus – about 95 percent of it – comes by air. We’re bringing in about 1 million pounds a week [from Peru and Mexico]. So I guess asparagus would be your largest import commodity, but my question was how much asparagus do you personally eat in a typical week? You kinda got me there. I’d like to say about 10 pounds a week, but it’s more like 2 pounds. I’m trying to do my share. I know you’ve drawn inspiration from your sister, Laura. Can you tell me how she has motivated you? She was inflicted with MS [multiple sclerosis] at an early age. She got it when she was about 18 and, from the time she was about 23 or 24 until she passed away at 50 [in 2012], she was in a wheelchair. She never ever lost hope of getting better. She was always positive. She’d say, “Y’know, Walter, I’m going to get married and I’m going to be walking again.” And I thought, “How powerful. Here you are with really no cure in sight and yet you have the optimism that not only are you going to get cured but you’re going to get married.” I used to think why would God do this to someone and then I realized that God was using her to give others strength. When I’m going through tough times, I think, “Wow, talk about tough times, what she is going through is tough, and not the stuff we typically go through day to day and complain about.” She gets me through all of my rough patches, when I think I’m having a bad day, and then I think about her. Who do you admire most professionally and personally, and why? Personally, it’d have to be my wife, Beth, and, as far as professionally, Joe Procacci [now 87 and still chairman and chief executive officer of Philadelphia-based produce giant Procacci Brothers Sales Corp.]. He kind of took us under his wing and really taught me the business. At first, I kind of fought him [Procacci] on it and said, “I know what I’m doing, I’m going to do it my way,” and proceeded to lose a bunch of money. Then I said, “You know what? He’s been doing it a lot longer and he’s been extremely successful at it. Why don’t I start to listen to what he’s saying?” The moment I started listening to him was the moment we started to become a profitable company, and we’ve been doing well ever since. What occupies your time when you get free from work, and is there anything you’d like to be able to spend more time doing? I enjoy coaching youth baseball, and I’d like to be able to spend a little more time doing that, coaching younger kids and getting them ready for what high school baseball is going to be about. I’ve been doing it for about 20 years now. So have you coached your kids, and is that challenging? I coached both my sons and am coaching my grandson now. The challenge is what’s rewarding. The challenge is getting them to focus and pay attention to what you want them to do, and then the reward is when you see them do it in a game and they look at you with those big eyes and they’re like, “Wow, what you told me actually worked and I’m doing it and I’m having success at it.” At a young age, their attention span isn’t all that great for them to buy in and be successful at it. And, as they become successful at it, they get a love for the game and want to continue to get better. Kind of like you with Alpine Farms, huh? It kind of prepares them for things beyond baseball, doesn’t it? The friendships that are formed, the relationships that carry on for both my kids, their best friends to this day are people they played baseball with when they were young. It teaches you a lot. You develop a lot of relationships. You learn how to be a team player. You learn how to be disciplined. Maybe I’m more particular about baseball, but any team sport is healthy for kids to be involved in, regardless of the level.