My name is Chris Mittelstaedt. And I'm the founder and CEO of The FruitGuys. The idea was very simple in the beginning. It was we were just trying to replace junk food in office break rooms with healthy food. We offer consumer's choice. So we have an organic product that is sort of our premiere product that we promote. We have a conventional product that people can also buy if they'd like to. But then even in our conventional products we try to fit in as much locally grown, sustainable, and organically harvested produce that we can that's caveated with in season because east coast, central, are going to be different than say the west coast and California. I mean, I think in a small business you always wrestle with the HR component because in a small company you can put your resources to things that you think have a faster return like sales people or, you know, things that are going to get you an immediate result to grow. For us, HR is more than having an HR executive who is going to like hire and manage sort of the benefits of people. It's really creating a culture. And how you create that culture is really, you know, that's your HR department in my mind. And that's, so I think we've done a good job at creating a strong culture here with limited HR structure and budget. >> My name Rebecca North. I've been working here for four years. You know, Chris has always been very, very supportive and inspiring. You know, he, I think, leaves a lot of room for people to bring their own passions and their own investments into the company in various ways. We're not just employees. I don't feel like that. I feel like he genuinely wants us, as people, to be good people and do a good job for ourselves and for the company too. >> I believe personally that, you know, people like to be part of something bigger than themselves. They want to know that their work contributes to something that is a bigger movement or is something that is going to have a greater influence than just their individual daily work. And that's something that we try to make sure we explain to people in their jobs and that we are talking to people about all the time so that they understand the effect that they have on, you know, the groups or whether it's vendors or society or the farmers we're working with, you know, we want people to understand that. [ Music ] >> This is Gabriel farm. We are Asian pear and apple growers. And we're organic. And sell to The FruitGuys. Well, The FruitGuys is a completely new model in the produce world. The old produce model is the produce buyer calls you up or you call them, and they try to beat you down in price. And they say, "Oh, I'm sorry. That's way too high, that price. Couldn't you go a little bit lower?" And, of course, since you need to sell your products often you do end up going down. The new model, which I'm happy to say, has arrived on the scene with people like Chris Mittelstaedt and The FruitGuys is how can we support our growers and make sure that they're able to survive and get the price they need for their produce. So, it's really a wonderful new model. It's respecting the growers and working in cooperation with them. >> The farmers we work with we have relationships with. I mean, I think that's the way we've always done it, and we want to continue to do it. >> Well, it's not always warm and fuzzy. Don't be deceived. You know, I mean, there's a lot of, there's a lot of work and negotiating and edge that comes along with like building those relationships and finding the people that work out. You know, I mean we've met loads of farmers, and I've visited and been to many farms where, you know, their agricultural practices and methodology may not be in line with what I or the company feels is acceptable. So we won't deal with them. You know, we're very thoughtful about who we work with and how we work with them.
