In a world where many are trying to be everyone’s cup of tea, Gary Clevenger is content to be a shot of tequila. Sure, you could smooth things out with margarita mix, but in fresh produce, where every second counts, clarity is best taken with no more than a dash of salt.
There is no area in which this is more critical, Gary recently pointed out to me, than market intelligence and fresh product resources. Ready to serve insights straight up, the Managing Partner for Freska Produce International dove into the crucial yields from aligning with Bobalu, what he’s sure the next few years in the industry look like, and what he means when he says “real market intelligence.”
Pull up a stool, and let’s dive in.
Melissa De Leon Chavez: Gary, can you expand more on how Freska ensures logistics coverage and how this goes hand in hand with what I’ve heard you call “real market intelligence?”
Gary Clevenger, Managing Partner, Freska Produce International: At Freska, logistics isn’t an afterthought—it’s the backbone of our market intelligence. We operate distribution points in Nogales, Arizona; McAllen, Texas; Oxnard, California; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and beyond, allowing us to observe product movement, quality, and buyer behavior in real time.
Because we control our warehouse operations—especially in Nogales—we QC (quality control) every load, tracking sizing trends, pressure levels, and condition daily. That information feeds directly into our sales strategy. When you’re touching the fruit, not just trading it on paper, you understand supply shifts before the reports hit.
Logistics coverage also protects our customers. Weather disruptions, port delays, and cross-border bottlenecks aren’t surprises to us. They’re variables we actively manage. The result is consistency of supply paired with early market signals. That’s the difference between reacting to the market and staying ahead of it.
"Weather disruptions, port delays, and cross-border bottlenecks aren’t surprises to us. They’re variables we actively manage. The result is consistency of supply paired with early market signals."
- Gary Clevenger, Managing Partner, Freska Produce International
GC: Real market intelligence is verified, boots-on-the-ground information combined with context to separate noise from truth. It’s knowing not just that prices moved, but why they moved; is it a sizing curve shift? Is Mexico peaking early? Is Peru heavy in 48s and 60s? Are retailers committed to a promotional window? We analyze industry stats and reports closely—shipment data, arrival volumes, regional movement patterns, and historical seasonal trends—for mangos and within the avocado category, tracking harvest projections, offshore supply curves, and retail promotional cycles. But numbers alone don’t tell the full story. They have to be interpreted against what we’re physically seeing loaded in the fields, crossing the border, and moving through distribution. We talk to growers daily. We monitor harvest projections. We review USDA and industry reporting, but we validate it against real-time quality, maturity, and sizing conditions.
In both mangos and avocados, the market rewards those who act early, not those who react late. Real market intelligence helps buyers make decisions before the market makes them for you.
GC: The Freska–Bobalu partnership has been about alignment, not just expansion.
Freska brings global sourcing, year-round avocado and mango programs, and cross-border logistics expertise. Bobalu brings one of the strongest branded strawberry programs in North America with deep retail relationships and best-in-class field execution.
Over the past year, we’ve integrated sales channels, strengthened logistics coordination, and shared market intelligence across categories. What started as complementary strengths has evolved into a more cohesive platform. We’re able to provide customers with broader category solutions rather than single-item transactions.
It’s about scale, but it’s also about specialization. Each brand maintains its identity and expertise, while benefiting from shared infrastructure and insight.
GC: Buyers today don’t just need product, but reliability, transparency, and strategic guidance. Our partnership creates supply depth across multiple high-velocity categories: avocados, mangos, strawberries, and specialty tropicals. That diversification matters in volatile markets and strengthens forecasting. When you’re seeing movement across categories, you understand promotional pressure and shelf competition differently. That perspective allows us to advise buyers on timing, sizing, and promotional windows with more confidence.
Most importantly, we are operators. We are in the fields, the packing houses, and the warehouses. That operational proximity reduces risk for the buy-side. In dynamic categories where weather, labor, and global trade can shift quickly, experience and infrastructure matter.
GC: The fresh produce industry will continue to consolidate—not just structurally, but strategically. Retailers and foodservice operators are demanding fewer supply gaps, greater forecasting accuracy, and partners who can manage volatility across multiple origins and seasons.
At Freska, our focus between now and 2030 is disciplined growth—strengthening global grower partnerships, expanding value-added and organic programs, investing in logistics infrastructure, and deepening the integration between categories like avocados, mangos, and strawberries.
The future belongs to companies that combine operational control, financial discipline, and real-time market intelligence. We intend to be one of them.
"Our partnership creates supply depth across multiple high-velocity categories: avocados, mangos, strawberries, and specialty tropicals."
Albertsons Companies’ Jay Schneider recently referred to the amount of data available as an informational blizzard—and with everything from expanding insights companies to artificial intelligence inundating our industry, that gale is about to become more obscure before it eases. Partners like Freska Produce International offer more than a little comfort through the storm; they offer a way to see through it. 
