Berry Processing | Florida Strawberry processing

Become a Wish Farms Grower

Let’s Grow Together

With Wish Farms, you get the strength of a large shipper with the feel of a small-town handler.

Transparency. We provide payment documentation and follow an open book policy allowing growers to review our sales performance.
Integrity and Honesty. We will never misrepresent any information, and we will stand firm for what is best for your business as your marketing agent.
Communication. We report market conditions, trends and quality issues right away. Our grower relations team is available at all times to handle your questions and concerns.
Dedicated Sales Team. A knowledgeable sales team with a combined 90+ years of experience marketing fresh produce. You will be hiring our entire team, not one individual.
Customer Network. As the largest strawberry shipper in the eastern U.S., we market produce to a vast network of chain-store, food service, and wholesale customers. Direct relationships with these customers give us the ability to achieve excellent returns for our growers’ products.
Fast Pay. We pay our growers as soon as customer pricing is settled. We are not a “collect and remit payment” marketer. Payments are available via check or wire transfer.
Financial Stability. You can rest assured that you will receive payment for your product on a timely basis with no collection trouble. We have a great reputation with growers and maintain a solid credit rating. Feel free to check our credit rating at Blue Book Services or Red Book Credit Services.
Sales Process. We have developed an extensive scientific approach to forecasting weekly volumes. Combining information received from our growers in the field with the scientific data collection performed by our team provides accurate forecasting allows us to determine an effective sales strategy.
Strawberry Processing. We can market your entire strawberry crop with fresh and processed markets available. We are the only marketer in Florida that processes strawberries. Berries with water damage, we process. Quality problems, we process. Fresh market prices too low, we process. We will work with you to process any fruit that isn’t sold fresh.
Consumer Marketing. We are investing resources into building our Wish Farms Misty the Garden Pixie consumer brand. As part of these efforts, we are excited to introduce a QR code label on top of our strawberry, blueberry and grape tomato clamshells that will link to our optimized mobile website. Consumers will have access to grower profile videos, nutrition information, storage tips and much more. Try scanning the code below!

Contact us to see how the Wish Farms brand can help your business grow.

Telephone: 813-752-5111

JC Clinard, SVP Grower Relations ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it )
Teddy Koukoulis, Director of Blueberry Operations ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it )
PO Box 1839
Plant City, FL 33564
www.wishfarms.com

Published in Become a Grower

FreshQC: Connecting You to our Growers

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Published in Videos

Suite Caroline “No Next Time” (Produced by Wish Farms)

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Published in Videos

Contact Us

Wish Farms
Corporate Headquarters
Plant City, FL 33563

Telephone: 813.752.5111
Fax: 813.752.9472
E-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Website: www.wishfarms.com

Gary Wishnatzki

Chief Executive Officer
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Direct Employee Contacts:

Sales
Chuck Hollenkamp Executive VP Fresh Sales E-Mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it	Jason "JD" Deis Sales Associate E-Mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Marcus Caswell Quality Assurance Manager/Sales Associate E-Mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Charlie Briggs Vegetable Category Manager E-Mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it	Mike Ortiz VP of Processed Sales E-Mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Accounting
Rob Ogilbee Chief Financial Officer E-Mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Christy Polk Accounts Payable E-Mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it	Jessica Legg Human Resources/Payroll Manager E-Mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Teresa Brimner Accounting Manager E-Mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it	Sheila Young Receptionist E-Mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Operations
Andy Gutierrez Senior VP of Operations E-Mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it	Clint Austin Food Safety Manager/Operations E-Mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Grower Relations
JC Clinard Senior VP Grower Relations and Farm Operations E-Mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it	Teddy Koukoulis Director of Blueberry Operations E-Mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Marketing & Promotions
Amber Kosinsky Director of Marketing E-Mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

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Published in Contact Us

Fresh Florida Squash

Squash History

Crookneck sqaush has a bulbous shape and can have a somewhat rough texture. Its flesh is pale yellow and when cut open you can also see the seeds. The entire crookneck squash is edible including the skin, flesh, and seeds. The flavor is sweet combined with a light nut taste. It is very good baked in the oven with cheese and can be a great addition to any salad. The crookneck squash does very well in Florida, and we have several growers outside of Plant City that bring us squash during the season. The crookneck squash has been thought to have originated in Mexico or Central America and made its way north.

Squash & Health

Eggplant is a nutritional product with high amounts of dietary fiber and Vitamin C. Choosing a crookneck squash is relatively easy, like many fruits and vegetables you should avoid one that is too large or too small. These squash especially the larger ones tend to be bland. The skin is usually smooth, but can be somewhat rough or warty. Once you choose a nice medium sized squash it should keep by being refrigerated for up to four days.

Squash Nutrition Fact Chart

For Squash Growers

Do you grow squash? Are you looking for a handler to market your product? Wish Farms has been marketing fresh fruits and vegetables for independent growers for decades. The fact that Wish Farms is a grower provides us the knowledge and expertise to market your produce effectively. Furthermore, we have the customer base of major chain stores, food service providers, wholesalers, and smaller retailers to give you an optimal return. We also place high importance on keeping our growers informed about market prices and trends. If you are interested in having Wish Farms market your squash crop contact us. We welcome the opportunity to handle and sell your crop.

Published in Squash

Florida Strawberries

Strawberry History & Facts

There are over 600 varieties of strawberries grown all over the world. While strawberries are virtually available year round the growing season in Florida is typically November through May. Strawberries have been cultivated here in the United States as early as 1643 by the American Indians. Another interesting fact about the strawberry is that it is the only fruit that has its seeds on the outside. A strawberry has on average about 200 tiny seeds, which are the actual fruit of the strawberry plant. Strawberries have become a very popular fruit because of its sweet taste and health benefits.

Strawberries & Health

Strawberries contain many of the vitamins and nutrients that make up a healthy diet. Strawberries are an excellent source of Vitamin C and fiber. They are also a great source for the following essential nutrients: Potassium, Vitamin K, B Vitamins, Omega 3 fatty acids, and Magnesium to name a few. Furthermore, one cup of strawberries contains only 50 calories and almost 4 grams of fiber. Furthermore, they contain valuable antioxidants that are important for disease prevention.

Strawberry Recipes

Strawberries can be used in a variety of different foods. Please see our RECIPES section for an extensive list of deserts, salads, jams, smoothies, and many more.

Strawberry Nutrition Fact Chart

For Strawberry Growers

Do you grow strawberries? Are you looking for a handler to market your product? Wish Farms has been marketing fresh fruits and vegetables for independent growers for decades. The fact that Wish Farms is a grower provides us the knowledge and expertise to market your produce effectively. Furthermore, we have the customer base of major chain stores, food service providers, wholesalers, and smaller retailers to give you an optimal return. We also place high importance on keeping our growers informed about market prices and trends. If you are interested in having Wish Farms market your strawberry crop contact us. We welcome the opportunity to handle and sell your crop.

Published in Strawberries

Wish Farms Food Safety Standards

Food Safety from Field to Fridge

Wish Farms is committed to providing the best quality produce to its consumers and has taken the lead on developing a program to ensure the highest standards in food safety and traceability. With the patented produce traceability tool, FreshQC™, we are able to provide specific information about each individual package of produce. This traceability system will allow us to isolate any incident of food safety to the exact area in the field where the produce was picked, if a circumstance ever were to arise where the safety of our produce was in question. We require all of our growers to utilize the FreshQC food traceability system and provide the freshest and safest produce to our consumers.

Wish Farms follows the Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) standards that include a series of processes to ensure food safety on the farm during production, as well as post-production. In addition, Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) is upheld in regards to food safety procedures in our warehouses and coolers. For all of our processing facilities, Wish Farms has a certification in Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) which, defined by the FDA, is a systematic approach to the identification, evaluation, and control of food safety hazards.

GAP Third Party Auditing Includes:

Regulatory Compliance

Field History & Assessment

Worker Health & Hygiene

Plant Protection Products

Agriculture Water

Animal Control

Soil Amendments

Pre-Harvesting Assessment

Field Packaging & Handling

Storage

Equipment Sanitation/Maintenance

Published in Wish Farms Food Safety Standards

New Wish Farms Shopping Totes

New Wish Farms Shopping Tote

Sign up today to get yours!

We have just received our new Wish Farms shopping totes. These shopping totes are durable and feature Misty the Wish Farms Garden Pixie on both sides. They also fold down for convenience and easy storage and stay folded by a button clasp. We are going to send a tote to anyone who is a fan of Wish Farms on Facebook, while supplies last. Simply fill out the form below and if you are not a fan already, simply follow the link at the bottom of the page to our Facebook page and become a fan!