GrubMarket Now Major Supplier of California Cherries

GrubMarket, which delivers mainly local and organic groceries to businesses and consumers, has completed the acquisitions of Growers Produce Inc. and Cali Fresh Produce Inc., two produce wholesale companies with established customer bases across both coasts, the Midwest and other parts of the United States. Both companies maintain long-established relationships with producers of California cherries and other seasonally grown produce in the state. These acquisitions will make GrubMarket a major supplier of California cherries nationwide, as well as beefing up its sourcing ability regarding a wide assortment of California fresh produce, particularly fruits.

The move is the company’s latest in a string of acquisitions this year as it steadily expands its reach across the United States.

Adnan Awnallah and Ibrahim Al-Aeli founded Cali Fresh Produce in 2008. Four years later, they opened a Cali Fresh Produce San Francisco division, which merged with Growers Produce in 2018. Since that time, Al-Aeli has managed Grower Produce. Both companies will remain under their current leadership teams in their respective operating cities.

Noted Mike Xu, CEO of San Francisco-based GrubMarket: “The Growers Produce and Cali Fresh teams are prominent components of the California local-food ecosystem. They work with an incredible variety of California farmers and move an enormous amount of fresh produce for those farmers every day. They are some of the most grass-rooted, ambitious and hardworking people I have ever met in this space. Together, we will build a greater customer base and a stronger supplier network in the food ecosystems of California and nationwide.”

“We are excited to join the GrubMarket family and embrace the new growth opportunities that GrubMarket’s technology and network will bring,” said Al-Aeli, co-founder of South San Francisco-based Growers Produce and Oakland-based Cali Fresh Produce. “We source a rich variety of fresh produce from numerous California farms, and take great pride in supporting those farmers. We were thrilled to learn that GrubMarket shares this same mission of supporting farmers on their platform. We sincerely look forward to joining the GrubMarket Team. Together we will grow Growers Produce and Cali Fresh to the next level of scale and success across the country.”

Also as a result of the acquisition, Growers Produce and Cali Fresh will now be able to use GrubMarket’s proprietary WholesaleWare software suite, a software-as-a-service platform providing food industry suppliers and vendors with seamless financial management, easy-to-use online ordering and sales, precise inventory management, and engaging CRM tools.