By Frank Giles
This year, Wish Farms, a Plant City-based berry grower and marketer, will celebrate a century in operation. Gary Wishnatzki, president of Wish Farms, represents the third generation in the family business. Gary’s grandfather, Gershon Wishnatzki, was the first generation that started with a fruit and vegetable pushcart in New York City. Gershon made his way to Florida to be closer to the strawberries he was sourcing for his business in the late 1920s. Gary’s father, “Strawberry” Joe Wishnatzki, and his uncle Lester ran the growing company in the years after Gershon. Gary officially joined the family business in 1974.
A fourth generation already is working in the business, taking on important responsibilities as another transition in leadership takes place. That leadership is made up of family and other Wish Farms employees.
“As we transition to the next generation, I am establishing an advisory group this year that will transition to a fiduciary board of directors,” Gary notes. “With more family members entering the business, I feel it is important to have board oversight that will help guide the next generation.”
Grow What You Know Best
Over the years, the Wishnatzkis’ business was in the wholesale movement of fruits and vegetables, but in 1987 the family moved into growing strawberries.
“We started growing to have more certainty of supply,” says Nick Wishnatzki, the company’s public relations manager and Gary’s son. “We have not looked back and have been adding acreage and partner farms ever since.”
Strawberries have been the foundation of the business, but the farm has diversified and added blueberries, blackberries and raspberries to its portfolio. The company grows and markets organics for all four berry categories. Wish Farms was one of the first growers in Florida to plant
organic strawberries.
“To Gary’s credit, he was ahead of the curve when it came to organics,” notes James Peterson, vice president of sales and marketing and Gary’s son-in-law. “He got into it before there was really a demand for organics. It was not easy. The growing pains were real, and we lost a lot of money initially, but he saw down the road demand would come. The growth in organics has been explosive for our company in recent years.”
Wish Farms portfolio had included vegetables for many years. But over time, the company’s team realized there was just not enough volume of those short-window crops to draw retail buyer interest.
“We were in all kinds of vegetables like pickles, peppers, eggplants, squash, you name it,” Nick says. “But in 2014, we decided to focus on what we grow and market the best — berries.”
Steady Supply
That strategic move paid off and sent the company in a growth pattern that continues to this day. Wish Farms now can supply its customers 52 weeks a year with its berry portfolio.
The company grows a sizable portion of what it markets. The rest comes from grower partners, which have been an integral part of the company’s business.
“We have built our business around assuredness of supply,” Peterson says. “That has made our growth possible over the past few years because there are very few companies that can supply these berries year-round. It would be next to impossible to do that without partner growers. It is a staple of our program, and we have been very transparent how we handle our grower-partner fruit to give them trust we are doing it the right way. We never take them for granted because this is their livelihood just like it is ours.”
New Name
For much of the company’s existence, the family name was featured on its packaging as part of its standard branding. In 2009, Gary decided to conduct a brand survey of 400 consumers who purchased strawberries at Florida grocery stores supplied by their farms. Only one person could name Wishnatzki Farms and even then, misspelled it.
“The survey was a wake-up call and made us realize our brand, that had been in the marketplace for decades, was not resonating with shoppers,” says Amber Maloney, marketing director for Wish Farms. “Gary had a realization: If bottled water can be branded, why can’t berries? Up until this point, berries were strictly viewed as a commodity. We saw a rebrand as a real opportunity to propel the business and connect with consumers. Our company’s rich history and our grower partners have great stories, and the brand helps us tell these stories.”
In 2010, the business officially adopted the Wish Farms brand. Misty, the magical garden pixie, became the company mascot. “The company tagline was changed with the rebrand from ‘Quality Produce Since 1922’ to ‘Generations of Sweetness,’ which is a nod to the generations of the family working in the business and generations of working with our partner growers and families of all ages enjoying sweet berries,” Maloney adds. “Gary has a vision of building a brand and wants Wish Farms and Misty to be recognized nationally and internationally. Our berries are sweet and fun, and that carries through all that we do.”
The branding effort goes beyond the company name. Wish Farms is marketing specific varieties of berries, similar to the apple industry’s success with the Honeycrisp and Cosmic Crisp varieties. The first entry in this endeavor is Wish Farms Pink-A-Boo Pineberries®, which were developed by the University of Florida. The blush-colored berry with a fresh tropical flavor and hints of pineapple has been a hit with consumers and retailers. The company also has its own breeding program and is developing proprietary varieties for future branding and marketing.
Technology and Innovation
Another factor contributing to the longevity of Wish Farms has been its adoption of innovative technologies. The company also has led innovation by developing new technologies on the farm, including the creation of one of the early versions of traceability software. The company that grew out of that, called Virtual One, has since been sold.
Wish Farms has since developed its own traceability system called the Berry Tracker. It allows consumers to provide input on quality of the Wish Farms berries they purchase and to learn more about the farm and its partners. The Berry Tracker’s Happiness Survey can be accessed via QR code. The tracking system also has applications for food-safety tracing.
The Berry Tracker allows berry harvesters to efficiently scan an entire flat of berries at once using a cell phone. “Our old system included individual stickers that workers had to place on the clamshells,” Nick notes. “Now the workers just hold the phone over the flat and it records all that data from the label at once in one shot. It is much more efficient, and the harvesters are happier.”
Another technology the specialty crop industry is watching with keen interest is the development of a robotic strawberry harvester. Gary co-founded Harvest CROO Robotics, the company developing the robot.
The self-driving robot is in its seventh version of development. While its original intent was picking strawberries to help address the challenges associated with sourcing manual labor, it promises to add other applications like scouting and fruit estimates in the future.
“On the farming side, labor is a huge issue this robot can help with, but for us on the sales side, if it can accurately predict the coming volume of strawberries, that would be a big innovation,” notes Peterson.
The Harvest CROO team is hopeful the machine will be in fields this season picking commercial strawberries.
Joyful Tradition
With 100 years under its belt, the company is well positioned for the future. “Our family has endured a century of hard work in a tough industry, but we’ve never lost sight of the fact that we sold a product full of happiness — fresh strawberries,” Gary says. “We intend to keep that joyful tradition in the years ahead.”
SIDEBAR
In 2021, Wish Farms employees moved into a new headquarters building just off I-4 in Plant City. A new warehouse facility also opened next door on the property in 2020.
The headquarters was designed with the playful and fun spirit of the Wish Farms brand and its mascot Misty, the magical garden pixie. A 35-foot wooden slide (sourced from trees on the property) greets guests entering the lobby of the building. A treehouse that serves as a meeting space sits perched in a large live oak just outside the headquarters building.
“With our new name and bold ideas, I wanted Wish Farms to have a headquarters with an eye on the future and the next generation,” says Gary Wishnatzki, president of the company. “I wanted our home to be fresh and futuristic yet filled with a love of nature and family — a happy place to work. I think we’ve created exactly that.”