Guisseppi Loffredo and family immigrated to the U.S. through Ellis Island in 1891
In 1892, Giuseppe established Loffredo Fruit and Tobacco Company at 4th & Court Ave downtown Des Moines
- Original gardens located near old Holiday Inn on Fleur (near Gray’s Lake)
- Purpose was to service Hotels, Restaurants and Soldiers
- Used horses to cultivate land and also to deliver throughout Des Moines
- Grew many different green vegetable items and tomatoes
In 1918, moved operations to 9th & Porter Ave in Des Moines
- Needed larger warehouse and space for growing crops
- Now had 300 acres
- This was around the time Tony (son) took over the business
- Tony known to introduce broccoli to Des Moines
- Slowly phased out growing operation as interstates were developed and transportation from California took shape. This allowed the company to offer new items not familiar with the area
- Tony retired in 1960 and left the business to his son Gene L. Loffredo
- 1965 began purchasing 100% of product sold
1970 – We began our cutting/processing department
- Two employees started peeling potatoes and shredding fresh lettuce in the back of our warehouse
In 1984, moved operations to airport location on McKinley & SW 34th
- Business started transitioning to 4th generation ownership
- Gene, John, Mike, Jim, Larry
- The warehouse grew to 30,000 SF
- Moved to our current location on 63rd Street in 1997 - 85,000 SF facility
- Began building regional warehousing and distribution system
- Quad Cities - 1997
- Omaha - 1999
- Kansas City - 2000
- Madison - 2005
- 1996 Gene Loffredo Sr. – Transitions into 4th generation management
- 1999 – Became Pro*Act Member - Pro*Act is a National Network of local, independent distributors specializing in fresh produce and specialty food products.
In 2010, fifth generation began working in the business full time.
- The company is currently going through a transition period to move the business from the fourth to the fifth generation
- Established Produce Innovations in 2014 to embrace growth in fresh-cut segment
- Square miles serviced (over 175,000 square miles)
- Active accounts (over 2,500 active accounts)
- Cases shipped annually (over 6 million annually)
- Created Hwy 28 Farms label
- Launched Season Well label – 2017
- Omaha Purveyor of the Year