In March 2017 Vanguard International expanded its North American presence, opening a new office in Bakersfield, California. We are settling in nicely in the sunny Golden State with the office operating as Vanguard Direct. Following the acquisition of our subsidiary Agricola Challapampa, one of Peru’s leading producers of grapes and citrus, Vanguard Direct has enhanced the marketing, sales, and distribution of our production and imports into North America.

“Our new location is functioning very well so far, a great compliment to our Issaquah office in Washington,” says Craig Stauffer, CEO Vanguard International. “Establishing a presence in California was an exciting step in Vanguard’s growth and mission to supply fresh, quality-assured produce 365 days a year. We’re now gearing up to begin actual sales operations this winter.”

Leading Vanguard Direct is Vice President of Sales Gene Coughlin, Sales Manager Shawn Caldwell, and Denise Smith in the role of Sales Support Manager. “We look forward to building a strong foundation for Vanguard in California and to ensure consumers across North America will have access to our popular varieties of grapes throughout the year,” said Coughlin. “In addition to representing Vanguard Direct, we’ll be working with a number of Vanguard’s historical strategic grower partners to market their fruit into North America as well.”

A leading grower and packer of Peruvian grapes, Challapampa, and its in-demand labels Red Tiger, Vanguard Fresh and Pampa Fresh are well known in the global markets. Vanguard is making significant further investments in Challapampa and in other agricultural holdings to strengthen Vanguard’s position providing 52-weeks a year of quality and food safety assured supply solutions to its global customer network. In Peru,we are undergoing a substantial new planting program with a host of new proprietary seedless grape and mandarin varieties that will support our customer base throughout the world, and establish a foundation for imports into the North American market.

“This new offices allows us to maximize synergies,” continues Stauffer. “One initiative is a small program of clementines from Morocco, imported and packed here in North America, marketed and distributed through Vanguard Direct under the Vanguard Fresh brand. We are going to be particular about new projects and are excited to see where our Bakersfield team can take us.”

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