Israel: Flexibility and global reach key for Adafresh

As an Israeli company that grows and ships fresh herbs and peppers, Adafresh has products with different necessities. On the one hand, herbs are relatively easy to grow, but are labor-intensive to harvest and ship, whereas peppers require much time and effort to grow. But in spite of these obstacles, and an increasingly competitive landscape, Adafresh manages to succeed by being flexible and expanding their horizons.

Adafresh was established by Avi Kadan in 2005, after leaving another export company he'd founded in 1991. Throughout that time, his philosophy toward business has not changed.

"I've said this for over 20 years, and it's true today," he says, "the thing you have to worry about is the competition. If you're not afraid of your competitors, you will lose your business." That's especially good sense given the competitive place that the Israeli produce market has become. And although Kadan likes a competitive market and supports it, he is wary about some of the side-effects of such competition.

"Don't get me wrong, I support strong competition," he says, "but the situation we have in Israel is risky right now because we have to make marketing decisions about a lot of volume in a short period of time." The danger, he notes, is for everyone to focus on the next sale and not take time to sort out marketing decisions and long-term planning for the market as a whole. "For example, if growers only go for high-yield, big peppers, what happens if the market changes and wants different sizes?"

What's necessary, according to Kadan, is to navigate the market intelligently. He cites their expansion of herbs to Kenya as an example.

"We started growing chives in Kenya about four years ago," he says, "because in Israel, it's more expensive to grow and there are times when you can't grow chives. Then we can focus on growing things like basil in Israel, which can't be grown in Kenya, and that results in lower costs and more availability for customers." To simply not grow chives, he adds, wouldn't be practical since it's paramount for an herb-grower to have a full line of herbs. So the shifting of crops is the optimal solution.

Kadan's plan is to eventually turn Adafresh into a produce supplier spread all over the globe. To do otherwise, according to him, would not be wise. "Because there are so many smart people competing," he says, "if you stand still, you get punished."

For more information:
Avi Kadan
Adafresh LTD
Tel:+972 73 2332223
Mob: +972 52 3336545
www.adafresh.com