Who We Are
We founded The FruitGuys in the kitchen of our one-bedroom apartment in San Francisco in 1998 with the idea to help companies provide healthy options to employees during their workday. Today we are a proud B Corp and one of the most trusted providers of farm-fresh fruit, produce, and snacks to businesses, schools, and homes across the country. We are still family owned and operated and remain committed to our mission of fighting hunger in our communities and supporting small farms and agricultural sustainability.
-Chris Mittelstaedt, Founder & CEO
Our Story
1997
Chris Mittelstaedt is working at the Fairmont Hotel as a fax boy; his wife gets pregnant. Luckily she has a real job. Has idea to deliver healthy snacks—especially fruit—to dot-com companies.
Feb 16, 1998
Our birthday (we are an Aquarius!). The FruitGuys’ first delivery—by scooter and Honda Civic—from our North Beach apartment to businesses in San Francisco’s Embarcadero Center.
1998
A friend gives us a free space in The Cannery at Fisherman’s Wharf to do production as long as we are gone by 7 a.m. Monday deliveries to San Francisco and Tuesday deliveries to Silicon Valley happen via rented U-Haul truck.
1999
We lease production space from Gilt Edge Creamery in South of Market and purchase our first truck (an old Boar’s Head truck) which has an “A” residential parking permit because we park it on the street by our house at night. Begin delivery of milk and other goods.
1999
Begin fruit donations to St. Anthony’s Dining Room in San Francisco. Our GoodWorks program born!
2000
We crest $1M in sales! Move to bigger warehouse space in South San Francisco. Buy five trucks from Webvan before they go under.
2001
Dot-com bubble bursts. Half our clients go out of business. I overhear someone say: “I can’t believe Red Gorilla didn’t make it.” I have to lay off half my employees. We barely stay in business.
2002
Start getting calls from transplanted ex-dot-com workers who want fruit shipped to them on the East Coast.
2003
Start shipping fruit nationwide.
2007
Philadelphia facility opens to serve the East Coast. Establish relationships with local farms and source from them for local deliveries when in season.
2008
Farm Steward Program begins with the donation of four beehives and 48,000 bees to Gabriel Farm in Sonoma County.
(This program is now a part of The FruitGuys Community Fund grant cycle.)
2008
Launch of The FruitGuys Magazine blog. All the news that’s fit to eat!
2009
Chicago facility opens to serve the Midwest.
2009
Farm-to-School Program launches, serving public schools through the federal FFVP program.
2009
Donate-a-Crate Program begins; many clients forward their weekly fruit deliveries to local nonprofits when they aren’t in the office.
2010
Phoenix facility opens to serve southwest.
2011
The FruitGuys named top small company workplace by Inc. Magazine.
2012
Founding of the nonprofit The FruitGuys Community Fund, a fiscal project of Community Initiatives, to provide small grants for big impact sustainability projects to small farmers across the U.S.
2013
Los Angeles facility opens.
2014
Move into new HQ in South San Francisco. 100 employees nationwide. Thousands of companies and millions of employees served.
2019
The FruitGuys becomes a certified B Corporation.
