TruSource: A Conscious Collective

The power of intention cannot be overstated. In an industry where so much happens in the blink of an eye, often at the whim of natural forces outside our control, intention is a guiding light. It helps leaders stay the course, even when the road ahead is not the one they mapped. For TruSource Founder and Chief Executive Officer Elton Evans, that intention has shaped every step in building a stronger, more connected produce distribution system.

Melissa De Leon Chavez: Elton, TruSource describes itself as a collective. What does that mean in practice?

Elton Evans, Founder, Executive Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer, TruSource: We chose ‘collective’ deliberately because it reflects how we intend to operate. In practice, it means each operating company keeps its name, local leadership, and the customer relationships it has built over the years, while we invest together in the things that make all of us better: food safety systems, added capacity, procurement, and the ability to serve customers across a broader footprint. 

We are not trying to replace local expertise with a centralized model. We are building enterprise capability around local expertise, giving customers the responsiveness and accountability of a trusted regional operator with the resources of a larger platform behind it. It’s local roots with collective strength. 

MDC: You stepped away from full-time operating leadership. What brought you back to build TruSource?

EE: Throughout my career, including at Sysco and Dean Foods, I saw how much food distribution depends on reliable supply chains and strong local execution. For me, the work has always come back to one thing: feeding people. Retirement gave me the space to consider which industry challenges I still felt compelled to solve. I kept returning to one question: How do we get fresh food to more people, more reliably?

The produce industry is full of exceptional regional businesses with trusted customer relationships. As customers grow and supply chains become more complex, those businesses often need greater capacity, technology, infrastructure, and reach. Consolidation can provide those advantages, but it can also move decisions farther away from customers.

I believed there was room for a different model, one that equips regional operators to grow while preserving the local knowledge and relationships that make them successful. That conviction became TruSource. Our vision is fresh food on every plate. We help advance it by strengthening the regional companies and capabilities that keep fresh food moving.

MDC: Consolidation is reshaping produce distribution. How is TruSource differentiating its approach?

EE: Every company that has joined TruSource—Freshway Foods, Forestwood, and Nickey Gregory—was already a strong business with an established reputation in its market. Our role is to use the collective’s scale to invest in food safety, capacity, technology, supply-chain performance, and talent, so those companies can serve customers more reliably and build lasting businesses. Scale is valuable only when it strengthens the regional operators the system depends on.

“Our vision is fresh food on every plate. We help advance it by strengthening the regional companies and capabilities that keep fresh food moving.”

- Elton Evans, Founder, Executive Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer, TruSource

MDC: You know firsthand that trust is a critical currency in our industry. Can you tell me a bit about how TruSource is protecting and strengthening that trust as the company grows?

EE: Trust and performance both follow clarity. I like to say leaders don’t eliminate uncertainty; they maintain clarity despite it. 

Our mission makes our commitment clear: to deliver fresh produce with the reliability, service and care our customers count on. That is the standard customers should experience from every company in the TruSource collective.

We are deliberate about what changes and what does not. Local leaders remain close to their customers and accountable for their businesses. TruSource adds resources, standards and shared capabilities that help them deliver on that promise more consistently. Our growth is designed to strengthen the confidence of our customers, not disrupt it.

MDC: Speaking of that model, what does it look like in action and what does your approach mean for those TruSource serves?

EE: One early example is Nickey Gregory’s investment in value-added processing capacity, which Forestwood can draw on to expand its offerings without duplicating infrastructure. This extends the value of Nickey Gregory’s investment while giving Forestwood more ways to serve local customers.

For customers, the model preserves the local relationships and responsiveness they count on while adding broader capabilities and more consistent execution. We are not asking customers to trade local service for scale. TruSource is designed to deliver both.

MDC: I get the sense that this is just the beginning, but with so much intention in how you have moved forward so far, what do you see on the horizon for TruSource and its customers?

EE: I see TruSource building a lasting future for its operating companies and the people who have spent their careers building them, while becoming an even more capable and reliable partner to customers. 

When we do this right, TruSource will demonstrate that regional companies can grow together without giving up what made them trusted in the first place. That is how we strengthen the system that moves fresh food and bring our vision of fresh food on every plate closer to reality.

Intention gives TruSource its direction, but its strength comes from the perspectives it brings together; regional operators, customers, partners, and a leader whose career has spanned food distribution and other complex industries. With willingness to evolve and the steadfast of its purpose, TruSource is carving its own path toward a vision of a more united fresh industry with one result: consistent reliability from the field to the plate.