HENRY AVOCADO CORPORATION

Our long history briefly stated.

Henry Avocado was founded in 1925 by Charles and Florence Henry, who were among the first to plant avocados in San Diego County, California. Their sons Gil and Warren joined the company after Gil’s service in WWII and Warren’s service in the Korean War.  After their father was fatally injured in an accident on the farm in 1953, Gil took on the responsibility for packing and marketing, Warren handled farming and planting new groves, while their mother continued to do the accounting.  Later in the 1950’s, their cousin, George Schoeffel joined them as sales manager.  Over the years, additional partners were added to assist with the expanding business and replace the retiring partners. The current managing owners are Phil Henry in administration and planning, Don Hoey in sales, Rick Opel in farm management, and Vic Varvel in operations and facilities. The original Henry farm has been in continuous avocado production since 1925.

KEY FACTS, DATES, AND EVENTS

  • Purpose: To consistently provide customers with superior quality fresh avocados and great service.
  • Pioneered: forced-air ripening of avocados in 1983. Today, Henry has 120 forced-air ripening rooms at its distribution centers in Escondido (2) and Milpitas, CA; Phoenix, AZ; Charlotte, NC; San Antonio and Houston, TX.
  • Promoted: In early ’50s, Henry planted and promoted the Hass variety, which became the industry standard by the ’70s.
  • Customer Focused: Year-round distributor of custom-ripened fresh conventional and organic avocados sourced from California, Mexico, Peru, Colombia, and Chile.
  • Markets: Serving foodservice and retail customers throughout the U.S.
  • Introduced: Certified organic avocados to the product line in 2010.
  • Offering bagged organic and conventional avocados year-round.
  • Brands: Bravocado and Green Goddess.
  • Farm Management: Consistently producing sustainable cost-effective results for grove owners.
  • Certifications: Primus GFS and CCOF Organic in U.S. and Fair Trade in Mexico.
  • Product Integrity: Modern equipment and practices in place to ensure cold chain integrity.