A fresh approach

Spokane Produce should hang a sign at the door: “Coat required.”

This fresh vegetable and fruit supplier for regional grocers and restaurants is a chilly place. Workers buzz about in this warehouse just west of Spokane in coats and warm clothing, sorting and packaging the foods that make up a large part of healthy diets across the region.

Now in its 60th year of business, the company borne out of Japanese farmer cooperatives has won a prestigious award celebrating successful minority-owned businesses.

Spokane Produce has been named the winner of the 2005 William D. Bradford Minority Business of the Year award, given by the University of Washington, which recognizes business prowess and a commitment to employees and customers.

The recognition comes at a special time for owner Craig Higashi. His parents, Shozo and Mary Higashi, the founders of Spokane Produce, both died during the past couple of years.

They were hard-working Japanese Americans who turned a small farmers’ cooperative into a successful firm, beginning in 1945 when they started Spokane Vegetable Growers Co-op.

Throughout its history, the company never intended to be the cheapest. Shozo Higashi was fond of the company’s motto: “We will market the best produce, from the best available suppliers regardless of price, time or market conditions. People will always pay for quality. We will succeed if we always hold true to this principle.”

Today, Spokane Produce is a made-in-Spokane success story. The business employs 185 people and is on pace to top last year’s sales of $37 million.

It won the Bradford award by surpassing a range of expectations, including business acumen in maximizing revenue potential; employee treatment and customer service; charitable giving and volunteering; and providing jobs and opportunity in lower-income areas, said Michael Verchot, director of the Business and Economic Development Program within the University of Washington’s business school.

“This is a company with an incredible commitment to its employees,” he said. “And we’re impressed with the way they have been able to continue to grow their business. This is a solid company.”

Spokane Produce is poised to grow at a clip of about 10 percent a year for the next five years, banking on a national push of attempting to eat healthier, Higashi said.

Among the biggest threats to his business are big-box retailers and grocers with their own supply chains that don’t use outfits such as Spokane Produce. His business depends on the success of smaller, often locally owned stores such as Yokes, Tidyman’s, Rosauers, Harvest Foods, and others.

Spokane Produce has also emerged from its most serious setback. The company was accused of enabling an outbreak of E. coli infection that sickened girls at an Eastern Washington dance camp in 2002.

Though investigators initially pointed to romaine lettuce prepared and packaged at Spokane Produce as the source of the dangerous food-borne illness, lawsuits against the company have yet to be resolved.

Higashi calls the episode the most difficult for him and the company. He feels terrible about what happened to the girls, but declines to talk about the issue on the advice of his attorneys.

Handling produce is delicate business, he said. Food safety is of the highest priority and the areas of food preparation are closely inspected and managed.

The company is headquartered in an old bowling alley on Geiger Boulevard near Highway 2.

When Spokane Produce moved in, much of the space was converted to a refrigerated warehouse suitable for storing and handling everything from broccoli to bananas. Today there are hundreds of vegetables, herbs, fruits, and prepared foods such as salad dressings and fruit juice ready for delivery.

Though the award is given to a minority-owned business, Higashi points to his company’s proud practice of providing jobs to immigrants.

Spokane Produce boasts a work force of people from Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, China, Ukraine, Bosnia, Russia and Mexico. At any given time, a fourth or more of the workers are immigrants.

The company offers medical and dental benefits, a 401(k) plan and profit-sharing.

“These folks are hard workers,” Higashi said. “My wife, Ramona, and I believe that everyone needs a chance.”

Higashi said the company used to employ many of the foreign wives of airmen who were stationed at nearby Fairchild Air Force Base.

He has overseen the day-to-day management for the past six years, but he misses the nightly phone calls – 7 p.m. to be exact – from his father.

“He always wanted to know about the action,” Higashi said. “We were very close.”

Higashi recalls his first job at Spokane Produce, slicing the tops and bottoms off of radishes: “I grew up in this business.”

Dan Petek, a friend of the Higashis and a public relations consultant, called the award a tribute to Shozo and Mary Higashi and a signal the business rests in good hands with their son.

“It’s well-deserved,” he said.