Montero Farm Essay

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For our entrepreneurship case, we identified a local business owner who specializes in distributing and transporting jicama. Their business falls within the produce industry. Montero’s Farms is a family-owned business, founded by the grandfather of the current owner at McAllen, Texas back in 1940’s in Mexico. It has been a family business for four generations.
Companies within the produce industry distribute fresh fruits, vegetables, spices and herbs. The demand for such products evidently depends on the overall consumption of fruits and vegetables. Profitability thus depends on quality and the efficiency of operations. Moreover, small businesses like Montero Farms can compete on certain products, such as tropical fruits or organic products. …show more content…

Rather, the idea lingered in Maria Cook’s head for sometime. She hoped to further increase profits. Especially, by distributing to northeastern and eastern coast. It was not until some planning, and with the assistance of her parents that Montero Farms was transported to the states. The location that was chosen was McAllen due to its proximity with Mexico, favorable labor market (i.e. not as regulated as say in California), and since competition was not very intense. As far as specializing in jicama distribution, there was not direct competitor who was supplying jicama year round, which is the company’s main product, as mentioned …show more content…

New products need to be included or eliminated. For example, baby jicama sells pretty well in Mexico, but in the US, there is no market demand. As for strategy, it is based on differentiation. Having the best quality products is how they compete. Because of this, their challenge is to find producers who can offer the quality they are looking for. Another challenge Montero’s Farm faces is the weather. The produce business is based on how the “weather behaves.” Business is very seasonal. Thus, they need to have their back-plan for this situations and seasonal fluctuations. Other challenge is selling their new products across different markets. The eastern market usually have their shift from 7am-4pm, where they are constantly

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