Julie Van Rosendaal
More Than Mangos with Julie Van Rosendaal
Tropical fruit - more than mangoes
(5:27)Success Stories: More Than Mangos
Tired of the same old thing? There is a place that has all the fruit you never heard of here in Calgary.
Oranges, apples, bananas.
For many Canadians suffering through the long winter, fruit
selection can be a bit thin on the ground, but a Calgarian
businessman, Andres Herrera is aiming to change that with a
new company called More Than Mangos.
See the video clip for more info.
http://www.citytv.com/calgary/yourcity_55778.aspx
A passion for fruit
What got you started?
Burke
Campbell, Financial Post
Monday,
February 25, 2008
Andres
Herrera owns and runs Calgary-based More Than Mangos
(morethanmangos. com), which imports and sells exotic
fruits from South America. He tells the Financial Post what
motivated him to become an entrepreneur.
Family history "I come from a family of entrepreneurs. My
grandfather owned his pharmacy and my dad owns a franchise
of cosmetics in Colombia. My mother pushed me to start my
own business, but I never wanted to."
Late bloomer "Since I speak English and Spanish, a career
coach suggested I find work that would exploit my language
skills. I thought of importing products from my native
Colombia, but I couldn't decide what they would be."
A chance remark "One day, a friend remarked that he wished
he could buy passion fruit in Calgary, as he could in
Colombia. That's when I had my 'eureka' moment. I realized
Alberta was ripe for fresh fruit in greater variety."
The fruit of passion " We are currently distributing to
local hotels, restaurants, farmers' markets and home
delivery services. But interest is growing and we plan to
ship across North America."
Good
deal "For lasting success, everyone must benefit. I buy
from a co-op of three hundred Colombian farmers. The
farmers receive a fair price and Canadians get the best of
nutritious fruit."
Copyright © 2007 CanWest Interactive, a division of CanWest
MediaWorks Publications, Inc.. All rights reserved.
| CREDIT: Lorraine
Hjalte, Calgary Herald
|
Flavours from the tropics
Food importer livens up northern diets
| Shelley Boettcher |
| Calgary Herald
|
When he was a kid growing up in Colombia, all Andres Herrera wanted to drink was soda or plain ol' orange juice, anything but his mom's homemade fruit juices.
"We just took them for granted. We had them all the time."
But after moving to Canada at the age of 17, Herrera, now 30, says he realized he missed his mother's creations -- and the array of tropical fruits that went into them.
"My God, you can barely get a good mango here," he says with a laugh.
"And there are only so many apples and oranges that a person can eat in the winter."
Herrera coped with the reality of a northern diet for a while. He worked in sales, became a journalist and briefly had a career in communications in the oil and gas industry. And he toyed with the idea of going into business for himself.
Then, one day about a year ago, he was talking to a friend and fellow Colombian-Canadian.
"He said, 'I haven't seen a good piece of fruit in this city since I left (Colombia),' " Herrera recalls.
"That was it. That was my clue."
After four months of researching the market and exploring import options, More than Mangos, Herrera's new company, was born.
The business, which officially started in mid-November, imports fruits uncommon in the Calgary
marketplace: three varieties of guavas (the familiar pink variety as well as a mint-scented pineapple kind and an apple-shaped variety), dragonfruit, several varieties of passionfruit
(including purple, yellow, orange and banana), tamarillos, cape gooseberries (also called physalis), cactus figs, star fruit (also called carambola), baby bananas and lulo (a delicate fruit that looks a bit like a tomato and tastes a bit like a pineapple).
This week, Herrera and his wife Belinda, who is also his business partner, are importing large avocados (the size of a hand) and pineapple for the first time.
And they have plans to soon import soursop, chirimoya (a heart-shaped soft fruit with white flesh that tastes like a mix of strawberries, pineapple and mango) and water coconuts, (young unripe coconuts with jelly-like insides).
In addition to sales to restaurants in and around the city, the Herreras also sell their fruit every Friday at the Canyon Meadows Community Centre, located at 848 Cantabrian Dr. S.W., from 2 to 8 p.m.
And the company offers home or office delivery for orders of $50 or more.
Check out morethanmangos.com or call 542-9822 for more information or to place an order.
They've been importing 300 kilograms of fruit per week, but are increasing that to 400 kilograms, with plans to bring in more as the market demands.
All the fruit is imported from a co-operative of 300 farmers in Colombia which follow fair trade guidelines, says Herrera. "(It) helps to give farmers the right pricing for their products."
It takes five days from the point of picking to when the fruit lands in the hands of Calgary consumers, says Herrera, noting that mainstream grocery stores -- which, from time to time, carry some similar fruits such as dragonfruit and star fruit -- may take two weeks from the point of picking to placing fruit on store shelves.
So far, the most popular with Calgarians are dragonfruit and orange passionfruit.
"These go fast," Herrera says.
"Children really love these fruits."
So does Herrera, who is now eating the fruits and making the juices just like the ones his mom made him when he was a child.
"It makes a difference on the mood of a person -- especially on my mood," he says with a laugh.
"It's a renaissance of my childhood."
© The Calgary Herald 2008
Exotic fruit hits prime time Calgary news
Jebb Fink of City TV admires a South American dragon fruit during a visit to More than Mangos fruit market at the Canyon Meadows Community Centre.
Señor Fruta shares the tastes and textures of exotic fruit with grade three Spanish language students
