Letter from America Retail Things are being put in place for the Fall and Winter. On the sales side we have our partner Los Angeles Salad Company lining up new business every week. We should have 3000 stores across the United States buying the line by late October. What is very encouraging is the repeat business we get from newcomers to the products. There are now twelve items in the line of microwaveable vegetables from baby squash to tender baby broccoli with baby sweet corn the latest addition. On the supply side, Sinera and Javier are taking on new commitments with growers everywhere: Mexico mainly but also Guatemala, Costa Rica and Peru. The game does not seem to want to end, either you grow too much or not enough...we are in new territories since none of these speciality/exotic products have ever been properly marketed to the US multiples before. What will happen when we talk to WalMart? Maybe AMS can give us a few clues? Export Green asparagus from California and Mexico went to Paris and Frankfurt as usual in June/July. We seem to do better nowadays after the European season than before. Looking for niche markets can seem a bit annoying because of the uncertainty, but it is also rewarding. A good example of this has been Canadian cherries to the European continent. We knew there was business to do in August but had no supplier. Lisa made a trip, visited a few growers and managed to get the best one to supply us. Quality was excellent, logistics were challenging but manageable and the customers are ready to do more next year. We also found an opportunity with organic plums and strawberries to England. In September we start our campaign of stone fruit and grapes to the UK, a lot of work for Gary in QC but he is ready! We are also hoping to do some raspberries and strawberries from Well-Pict in Oct/Nov. Well-Pict has some late production that could prove very valuable. Foodservice We started our campaign to find a proper distributor in every major city in the US. Mike has been pouring over the Blue Book, the produce industry bible in America, to look for potential customers. He and Thierry took a trip to the East Coast to visit clients in New York and Philadelphia. Manhatten is busy as ever, there seems to be a Starbucks on every corner! The Liberty Bell in Phili is a must see, remember when America was called "the colonies"? September will be the time when things start to click withi new customers coming on board. Autumn 2002