Steve Magami grew up in a “wellness-oriented” family, and early on, he experienced the frustration shared by fruit consumers across the U.S.: the pervasive game of “berry roulette,” where there’s no guarantee that the carton of berries pulled from a grocery store shelf will actually taste good.
Image Credit: Courtesy of Fruitist. Steve Magami.
The issue often stems from a scattered supply chain, wherein the product cycles through disparate growers, packers, distributors and retailers before it reaches the consumer. ”The produce space went in the direction of commodity agriculture, which is an extreme focus on cost and yield to bring cost per kilo down,” Magami tells Entrepreneur.
Magami wanted to start a berry business with a vertical supply chain that would raise the bar for product quality. He and his co-founder, Thomas Snyder, founded Agrovision, a Los Angeles-based agriculture company specializing in berries, in 2012, and introduced its berry brand Fruitist in 2020.
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The brand has been making its mark on the massive global berry market ever since. Fruitist’s flagship product is its jumbo blueberries, but the company also sells blackberries, raspberries and cherries. Today, Fruitist’s sales generate over $400 million a year, and the brand just surpassed $1 billion in lifetime sales. The parent company officially changed its name to Fruitist on April 16.
“We knew we needed a name that reflected our mission, identity and where we were going,” Magami says.
Image Credit: Courtesy of Fruitist
“I saw an opportunity to use these microclimates with a new model to solve that ‘berry roulette.'”
Magami was working in private equity, looking at microclimates for large-scale biofuel development and deployment, when inspiration for Fruitist struck.
“I saw an opportunity to use these microclimates with a new model to solve that ‘berry roulette,'” Magami says. “I saw an opportunity to truly inspire healthy and enjoyable snacking.”
The berry industry might not be widely recognized for its potential for disruption, but as Magami and Snyder built their brand “brick by brick,” they managed to attract notable investors, including the family office of Ray Dalio, the billionaire founder of Bridgewater Associates.
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“It’s so unique because we’re disrupting this sleepy industry, the fruit aisle,” Magami explains. “This is a high-impact play. There’s a lot of sustainability around this, and it gives you the ability to play outside of tech but in a high-growth, disruptive way.”
Fruitist has raised a total of $693 million between equity and debt, per the company. These days, Fruitist has to turn interested investors away, Magami says.
“They’re making more money per square inch of the shelf. There’s virtually no shrink with us.”
Fruitist relies on technology and data analytics to achieve its consistent product quality. The company has invested more than $600 million since its founding to build precise, high-tech production operations in seven countries in addition to the U.S.: Peru, Mexico, Chile, Morocco, Egypt, China and India.
The plan was always to start with a differentiated product and secure buy-in from retailers, which would then get consumers on board in just “a matter of time,” Magami says.
Customer demand across the more than 12,500 U.S. retail stores where Fruitist is available, including Costco and Whole Foods, proves that assessment out. “Our retailers are making more money with us,” Magami says. “We’re driving foot traffic, [and] they’re making more money per square inch of the shelf. There’s virtually no shrink with us.”
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Fruitist’s commitment to product quality has also helped Fruitist position its berries for U.S. snacking culture.
“Obviously, the trend is towards healthier, nutritious, convenient, grab-and-go,” Magami says. “Blueberries are already so healthy, but to have blueberries that are so good and so consistent is a massive unlock. Because now you’re hitting everything that you could want in a snack.”
Image Credit: Courtesy of Fruitist
“The dollars will come. Don’t cut corners prioritizing cost over consumer experience.”
Magami is determined to build Fruitist into a generational business — not one that “stops growing after five years” — and to continue amplifying its brand messaging.
Magami is especially excited to continue that work through the world of sports. Fruitist became the official snack partner of D.C. United, announcing a multi-year partnership in February 2024, and partnered with the University of Southern California’s (USC) Trojans last October.
What’s more, Fruitist is particularly keen on capturing the attention of younger generations. Magami is encouraged by the positive response from his children and their friends to Fruitist’s berries and strives to get the product into the hands of other young snackers.
The brand’s forthcoming snack cups, which will retail for about $3, are another step toward increased accessibility, Magami says.
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Despite the company’s impressive track record to date, Magami believes that Fruitist has “only scratched the surface” of what’s possible — and notes that other founders considering the produce space should embrace the chance to fill gaps in quality.
“There’s so much opportunity across the produce aisle, in our view, from what we’ve seen outside of our products that we’re focused on, which is berries and cherries,” Magami says. “I would encourage entrepreneurs to focus on controlling the quality consistently and delivering an experience on the shelf, and the dollars will come. Don’t cut corners prioritizing cost over consumer experience.”
