MAPPSVILLE, Va. -- Naples, Fla.-based NTGargiulo will open a tomato packing house here early this summer.
summer months," said Gregg Biada, director of sales and marketing. "It's difficult to service them [from Florida] when they can get tomatoes from local suppliers."
Biada said he expects to ship 500,000 boxes of tomatoes from the new facility this year and perhaps 1 million in its second year of operation.
The expansion move comes less than a year after the company opened operations in California. Biada said the company is positioning itself to be a year-round supplier of tomatoes.