Internet Fruit

Steve Paul grew up as a grower, packer and shipper of fresh fruit from his farm in Fresno, California. As he grew up in that environment, from the field to the packing shed to fixing equipment, on into the office, he became familiar with computers at a very young age. He wouldn’t say nerd but maybe fruit and produce geek would resound as a description of this young man. This is back when PC’s were archaic compared to today’s standards but Steve found a way to start computer automating the process between harvesting and delivering to customers. In 1986 he opened a retail operation in mall in Fresno where he sold a wide variety of fresh fruits from his orchards and added dried fruits and nuts and gift items that he packaged into baskets. The name of the business was Bouquet of Fruits. After 23 years in retail, he learned what customers want, came to an understanding of value added and creating products. Steve says he was introduced to the internet because of weather: “AOL through our computer, I can download the National Weather Service to check weather trends and thunderstorms because rain and cherries don’t go hand in hand.”

 Well discovery of the internet led to a learning and doing process by which he built a web site that connects him to buyers and allows him to fulfill their orders including shipping and billing. It’s a new world out there…a cyber world.