Why sell pickled okra?
I assume there was a profit motive, but what made (Al Ricci) suspect he could be profitable is beyond me. It’s really not a product that should exist. The okra comes from below Mexico City. It’s packed by human hands instead of machines, and there’s more quality per ounce than you would expect to find. The only way you can do that and expect to profit is work hard at it. Do you package any other products? We can package on a custom basis for other companies, such as cucumber spears, when we have available line time. Most of the line time demand coincides with our own. The demand for our product is so strong that we aren’t able to pack okra for anyone else. It takes 100 percent of our resources to pack for our own label. To what do you attribute the company’s success? I think I answer that differently every time I’m asked. I guess we’re just determined to produce a quality product. Obviously we have to look at the bottom line. There has to be a risk reward. The first thing we do is pack