I have heard many incredible stories and met a lot of neat people in my career as a material handling specialist. Recently, I had the pleasure of hearing the story about my newly found role model, Dr. Frieda Rapoport Caplan. Frieda is a true inspiration to a young working mother such as myself. Her fearless and entrepreneurial mindset helped her break gender role stereotypes, start a successful business, raise two strong daughters and set a precedent for the rest of us to follow.
I found out about Frieda through a cold call to her company’s warehouse in Los Alamitos. The facilities manager told me about the start of Frieda’s Specialty Produce and how the company is still family owned and operated by women. Eager to know more, I got in contact with Frieda's youngest daughter, Jackie Caplan Wiggins, who is the COO of the company. Jackie agreed to an interview to tell me about Frieda and as it turns out, I am not the only one who is amazed by her. The full length documentary film, "Fear No Fruit" outlines Frieda's inspirational career and really digs into the huge impact she has had to the produce community.
Frieda got her start in the produce business in the mid-fifties. She was looking for a part-time job because she just had a baby and she was breastfeeding. Now, think back to your text books, or even back to an I Love Lucy episode, and most women in the 1950's were typically homemakers. But not Frieda. She made her mark by selling fresh mushrooms, an uncommon good that competed with the canned version. Eventually, she took out a loan and opened up her own spot in the LA Produce Market. Because Frieda wasn't afraid to handle uncommon goods, she quickly gained her reputation for handling "the weird stuff."
A broker from CH Robinson approached Frieda to see if she would sell "Chinese Gooseberries," to which she bravely agreed. Frieda, with the help of outside influence, decided that an ugly, brown, fuzzy fruit called a Chinese Gooseberry would never sell. She changed the name to "kiwifruit" after the New Zealand national bird. After convincing the growers to rename the fruit, Frieda began to market and sell the kiwifruit in America. Though the kiwifruit is what she is most famously known for, she also introduced other "weird" fruits and vegetables such as the habanero pepper, alfalfa sprouts, spaghetti squash, jicama, shallots, mangos, and Donut® peaches to name just a few.
Frieda tells a great story in "Fear No Fruit" that shows her dedication to her clients. When she was first starting her career, she made a large mushroom sale, but was unable to fill due to lack of inventory. So she bundled up her young baby, drove out to a growers and stayed there until they gave her mushrooms to fill her customer's order. Her desire to make sure a customer is completely satisfied is something to admire. To this day, the company still guarantees 100% consumer satisfaction with every purchase. Frieda was the first woman to own and operate a wholesale produce company in the United States. She was the first to package a produce item and print a recipe on the label. And yes, at the prime age of 95, she still works 2-3 days a week. I asked Jackie what made Frieda so successful. She told me, "Frieda doesn't see obstacles. Growers came to Frieda because she had an open mind. Frieda is involved in her community, she is politically active and she is a great listener. She is a positive thinker and trusts her employees."
Frieda's career success completely has me awestruck, but the fact she also raised a family while working overtime makes me look up to her even more. While Frieda began and ran her business, she would leave the house at 1:00 AM, always kissing her daughters goodbye, and would be home around 5:00 PM. She worked in a male dominated world, all while wearing a dress and heels. Frieda's husband aided in her success because he ran his business out of their home, which allowed him to do a majority of the caregiving. This allowed Frieda to work the hours she did. Frieda's daughters, Karen and Jackie, now own and run the business and have taken it to new heights. They followed their mother's example and took the lead to heighten the success of the family business. Karen's daughters Alex and Sophia have also joined the company.
If you would like to see the full story on Frieda, I would highly recommend renting "Fear No Fruit" www.fearnofruit.com I hope you are as motivated by Frieda’s story as much as I am.
