Industry veterans get urge to ramble Sun Pacific Growers adds to the staff at its Nogales, Ariz., op

6/9/1997 12:00:00 AM

By Bureau

Industry veterans get urge to ramble Sun Pacific Growers adds to the staff atits Nogales, Ariz., operation. The ole' switcharoo. Jerry pulled it on Tom.The Road Runner blew Wil-E-Coyote away with it. (Beep-beep!) And Goofy alwaysfell for it. But the classic switch is not just relegated to feudingcharacters in old cartoons. Produce companies do it all the time. Move asalesman here, hire a salesman there, fire a few when they do bad. Sun PacificShippers, Exeter, Calif., is the among the latest to play the game of businesslife. The shipper is boosting its staff at its Nogales, Ariz., division.Salesman Manny Cota recently joined Sun Pacific's seasonal tomato staff. Cotajoined the sales staff at the end of May and is responsible for sales of SunPacific's mature-green and vine-ripe tomato deal, said Steve Nelsen, SunPacific's citrus and tomato sales manager. The addition fills a gap in SunPacific's sales team after the resignation of tomato sales manager Jeff Eckel,who joined Bradenton, Fla.-based Go For It Brokerage Inc., Nelsen said. The43-year-old Eckel -- a 22-year produce industry veteran and Sun Pacificemployee for eight years -- opened a Visalia, Calif., office for Go For Itowner Don Sheffield on May 5. The office adds a second brokerage location inCalifornia for Sheffield, who also operates a seasonal office in Nogales,Ariz. Eckel said the position marks his first entry into produce brokering.``It's just an opportunity to work the other side of the fence,'' Eckel said.``I've always been a shipper, and Donny's a good broker and I thought he wouldbe someone I could work with real well.'' Eckel will primarily work out of theVisalia office, while Sheffield rotates from offices in Modesto, Calif.,Nogales and Bradenton. Eckel got his start in the produce industry as a ditchtender for his father, Frank Eckel, former owner of Eckel Produce, Salinas,Calif. Jeff Eckel's brother, Skip Eckel, is also in the produce business asowner of Salinas-based vegetable shipper-broker-distributor Eckel Marketing.-- From THE PACKER staff