Tasty freeze: in the nearly 30 years since she took over her father's frozen fruit business, Susan Kendall has lined up an impressive client roster.

WILLY Wonka had a chocolate river. Susan Kendall has a wall of fruit.

Strawberries, mostly, her best-selling frozen product. In an Encino office adorned with brightly colored paintings of the fruit, her Kendall Frozen Fruits Inc. has emerged as a major player in the frozen and dried foods business.

Kendall said the challenges to growth are no longer centered on overcoming the prejudices of the old boy network, as they were in 1976 when she took over Mort Kendall Co. from her father. ("A woman selling to a male dominated industry was unheard of back then," she said.)

These days, concerns involve everything from health and safety to the effects of low-carb products on sales.

The company acts as an agent for two-dozen or so fruit growers and packers in the United States, with 70 percent of them on the West Coast. Kendall also has a handful of clients in Europe and Chile and one in New Zealand. With her 12person group, she brokers the sales of her clients' frozen and dried fruits to 100 food companies, including Pillsbury Co.'s Haagen Dazs, Sara Lee Corp., Ocean SprayCranberries Inc., Minute Maid and Tropicana.

Some companies only buy a few truckloads per year; many purchase in the range of 5 million to 10 million pounds. Last year, the business placed more than 100 million pounds of fruit, generating $20 million in revenues on commissions of 3 percent to 4 percent on each sale.

When Mort Kendall started his frozen food company in 1939, he had to first sell his customers freezers to store the product. His cross-country shipment of frozen apricots had processors discovering they had to add citric and ascorbic acid prior to freezing to keep the fruit from browning, Susan Kendall said.

Bigger deals

When Kendall purchased her father's company, the business was generating less than $1 million per year.

"I knew growth meant going after the biggest companies, and forging links with the processors," she said. "I was the first broker to actually bring buyers down to processing plants, so they could see the operations and have a comfort level with the suppliers I was providing. What's good for the customer is good for us."

Early steps included sales calls on large food manufacturers and developing direct relationships between growers and manufacturers. She opened up an office in Maryland to cater to major East Coast players such as Mrs. Smith's Pie Co., one of the first big name clients she secured after taking over the business.

In order to expand the customer base, Kendall Frozen Fruits also moved into the sales of dried fruit to retailers such as Trader Joe's Co., now one of its biggest customers.

Kendall has maintained a lean staff that relies heavily on family and longtime employees. Her vice president, Deborah Olk, became a minority stockholder when the company incorporated in 1978. Kendall's son, Brian Klein, joined his mother in 1990 and works out of an office in Dana Point, brokering fruit juice concentrate. Kendall's brother, Larry, works out of a Littleton, Colo., office, near a key Denver manufacturer. Her sister Deborah opened a sales office in Berkeley.

Staying fresh

Longevity in the frozen fruit industry is not easy. Vertical integration by some of the largest food concerns has squeezed brokers out. Small buyers can end up in bankruptcy if their product runs afoul of Food and Drug Administration regulations. Management turnover can result in old relationships being cast aside and the loss of long-standing accounts.

"It costs the same to maintain our own sales force, but we'd lack Kendall's strong customer base and market experience," said Dave Cox, manager and principal in the Portland, Ore.-based Santiam River Inc., the nation's largest processor of frozen blackberries.

"Kendall has been brokering for us for 24 years. Last year we did approximately $7 million worth of business together. It's a three-way marriage, between processor, broker and customer, with each party relying on the others to help meet supply and demand."

And there are the daily risks associated with running the business.

Kendall will occasionally purchase product from suppliers, most often overseas growers, while manufacturers await FDA clearances. Conservative by nature, Susan Kendall prefers to broker, not take possession, and save cash reserves.

She remembers being approached once by a group working with several suppliers. "They quoted me a product at a good price, which I then quoted to a customer," she said. "The brokers did not deliver on the full order, and I was forced to buy on the open market, at a loss, to fill the order. I learned never to work with a broker or supplier that I have not carefully investigated."

Bakemark, a $4 billion bakery supply outfit in Pico Rivera, has worked with Kendall since she entered the industry. Last year Kendall brokered between 4.5 million and 5 million pounds of product for Bakemark.

Andy Van Schaik, director of corporate purchasing for Bakemark, said he relies on brokers to help negotiate prices between various regions and growers, as well as to provide product that meets Bakemark's quality standards.

"The worst thing for us is to pay for a product, move it into storage, and two months later discover issues of quality without any recourse," Van Schaik said. "Our comfort level with Kendall is that they have the clout in the marketplace to rectify that type of situation."

PROFILE

Kendall Frozen Foods

Year Founded: 1976

Core Business: Brokers of frozen fruit, fruit juice concentrate and dried fruit

Revenues in 2002:$17 million

Revenues in 2003:$20.5 million

Employees in 2002:10

Employees in 2003:12 full-time, several part-time sales

Goal: To double revenue in five years

Driving Force: Linking buyer with supplier; nurturing key relationships