Supplier Spotlight: Driscoll Berries

Summer’s right around the corner, and you know what that means… berries are in season!

Juicy blueberries, succulent strawberries, tart raspberries, luscious blackberries… it’s enough to make anyone’s mouth water! They’ll be tossed into salads, baked into pies and cakes, garnished on top of desserts – the possibilities are endless, and if you’re a berry-lover, you’re going to want to get your berries from the best source possible.

Here at Produce Services of Los Angeles, we pride ourselves on providing the best locally-sourced fresh fruit and veggies to our customers, and berries are no exception. Today, we’d like to share with you the story of one of our most prestigious suppliers – Driscoll’s, a farming company that grows some of the juiciest, most flavorful berries in California.

It all started with the strawberries…

Before Driscoll’s became the leading supplier of berries in the U.S., it started in 1904 as a simple farm run by two buddies growing Sweet Briar strawberries in the Pajaro Valley. Joe Reiter and Dick Driscoll worked hard growing and selling their strawberries, and in 1953 their small operation became Driscoll Strawberry Associates, Inc., an independent co-op selling premium fresh strawberries in California.

…and quickly grew into something much bigger

From there Driscoll’s merged with The Strawberry Institute – a company formed by Joe Reiter and several others in the 1940s dedicated to researching and breeding superior varieties of strawberries – and became the leading provider of strawberries in the nation. The company eventually expanded their offerings, and now grow high-quality blueberries, raspberries and blackberries that are enjoyed by families throughout the States and internationally.

Unique, patented berry varieties grown on family farms

Driscoll’s research and development teams use natural breeding methods to create delicious berries that are superior in terms of taste, texture, color, shape and aroma. Both their conventional and organic berries are grown on family farms, their farmers working directly with nature to produce the juiciest, most flavorful berries possible.

A rigorous food safety program developed from decades of research and experience

Driscoll’s considers food safety to be one of the most important aspects of growing berries, seconded only to taste. Their berries are grown, harvested and shipped with the highest standards of care possible. Their rigorous safety standards, developed from decades of research, consumer feedback and close cooperation with experts, are applied regardless of where the berries are grown, and they employ third-party auditors as part of their Global Food Safety Program.

Family-owned and operated for over one-hundred years

To this day, Driscoll’s is still family-owned and operated, and has been for over one-hundred years. Mike Reiter, Joe’s grandson, is the current CEO and a berry farmer himself, and his son, Eric, is now proudly carrying on the farming tradition by becoming the fourth generation of the Reiter family to take up berry farming.

They continue to uphold Joe Reiter and Dick Driscoll’s legacy of growing premium fresh berries that are sweet, juicy, naturally wholesome and nutritious.

Produce Services of Los Angeles, Inc. is a distributor of the full line of Driscoll berries as well as a large variety of other wholesale fruits and vegetables.