Fresh Express makes its headquarters in Southwest Orange County

SOUTHWEST ORANGE Florida Governor Rick Scott headed to Southwest Orange County Tuesday to celebrate Fresh Express’ corporate headquarters’ move to the area. 

Fresh Express, a subsidiary of Chiquita, is a retail salad package producer, and its offices are now located in The Grove Orlando.  In Central Florida, the company will add 90 Fresh Express jobs and 30 IT jobs for Chiquita, a marketer and distributor of bananas and pineapples.

Chiquita’s headquarters move to Dania Beach in South Florida, where 90 jobs will be added. 

“As you’ve heard, because of our great business climate —the most important thing we can do is create a business climate that everybody wants to do business in our state — they’ve relocated right here in the great state of Florida…What’s exciting is Chiquita and Fresh Express have relocated, and it will be 200 more jobs for Florida families, right here in Florida,” Scott said.

In early 2015, the Cutrale Group and the Safra Group, through their affiliate Cavandish Acquisition Corp, acquired Chiquita Brands International. Fresh Express’ move brings the headquarters in close proximity to other businesses within the Cutrale Group, an agribusiness and juice company. 

“We’re also the only major retail produce salad company that’s located in the state of Florida,” said Ken Diveley, president and CEO of Fresh Express.

The headquarters features an open space concept that encourages employee interaction. 

“We’re excited to be here in Florida,” said Hugh Thompson, a representative for the Cutrale family. “We think we have a tremendous amount of growth opportunities.” 

Contact Jennifer Nesslar at [email protected].