Remembering Frieda Caplan, Queen of the Kiwi

In 1962, Dr. Frieda Rapoport Caplan became the first woman to own a wholesale produce business in the Los Angeles Wholesale Produce Market. She introduced American consumers to such exotic produce as kiwis, mangoes, blood oranges, ginger, shallots, jicama, habanero peppers, brown mushrooms, purple potatoes, spaghetti squash, alfalfa sprouts, and more than 200 other items during her tenure leading Frieda’s Specialty Produce. She died January 18, 2020, at age 96.

At the celebration of her life, family and friends recounted stories of Frieda: her work ethic, her bravery, her community commitment, her creativity, her marketing savvy, and her friendship. How she blasted classical music day and night, never did housework, and never learned to cook. How she became a vegan at 95. Frieda was a woman who lived her life to the fullest, making breakthroughs that paved the way for women in produce and improving the industry as a whole.

Breaking the Wooden Pallet Ceiling

In the mid-1950s, Frieda was a new mother who wanted a flexible job so she could continue breastfeeding her daughter, Karen. She first accepted a bookkeeper’s job for an aunt and uncle who had a stall on the produce market. She knew nothing about produce and even less about business, but she had a knack for marketing and by 1962 had enough interest in her specialty products to open her own business.

“I never had a problem with the men on the market,” she said in the 2015 documentary Fear No Fruit. “Once they got over the fact that I was a woman and they learned they could make money with the items I was selling, I had no problems.” She added, “Success came to me because I never saw obstacles.”

She would arrive at the market at 2 a.m. in dresses and high heels and return home at 5 p.m., six days a week. Her husband, Alfred Caplan, president of a longshoreman’s union, worked mostly from home and supported her entrepreneurship. He died in 1998.

A Fresh Approach to Produce

“The other people on the market were only interested in high-volume items,” Frieda told The Orange County Register in 2015. “Small farmers had no place to go. Nobody was interested. So I started listening to all these small farmers.”

Frieda pioneered the concept of explaining to buyers and consumers how to use unfamiliar fruits and vegetables, notably introducing preparation instructions and recipes with the product. In 1979, she became the first woman to win The Packer’s “Produce Man of the Year Award,” which the industry newspaper promptly re-named (at Frieda’s urging), the “Produce Marketer of the Year Award.” She received numerous awards from produce, agriculture, culinary, and business organizations throughout her career and was given an honorary doctorate degree in 2014 by California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo.

Caplan & Daughters

“As a female business owner in an overwhelmingly male-oriented industry, Frieda provided an example to many aspiring women executives and, in conversations we shared, it was very apparent she always had an open door to those seeking a mentor and guidance. She also delighted in the fact that her daughters and granddaughter were carrying forward the torch she lit when she founded Frieda’s, Inc. in 1962,” said then-Produce Marketing Association CEO Cathy Burns after Frieda’s death.

Until 2019, Frieda continued to come into the office daily to work with her “favorite” daughters, Karen Caplan and Jackie Caplan Wiggins, and her granddaughter, Alex Berkley. Karen became president and CEO of the company in 1986.

“She never put any pressure on Jackie or me to join, or not join, the business,” said Karen, who went to work with her mother right out of college, in Fear No Fruit. Later, Jackie became vice president and chief operating officer. Together, the Caplan women built Frieda’s into a nearly $100 million business.

The FruitGuys Remembers Frieda

The FruitGuys has been working with Frieda’s since about 2010 and later became a sub-tenant in its Los Angeles warehouse space from 2014 to 2021.

“Frieda always had a reputation in the produce industry for having unique, high-quality products, and that’s what drew me to her company,” said Rebecca North, who worked with Frieda’s as a produce buyer for The FruitGuys.

“I had the pleasure of meeting Frieda after we first moved into their facility,” remembered Erin Mittelstaedt, CEO of The FruitGuys. “Jackie was giving me a tour, and she took me to ‘Frieda’s Wing.’ Frieda, in her 90s, was working out with a personal trainer in her office. When she was done, she filed invoices, as she still did every day in order to stay in touch with the business. I have always been so impressed with how Frieda set up the business and how her daughters continued to run it. They are tough and compassionate business people, and I’m honored that we get to partner with them.”

“A lot of my personal memories of Frieda just include opening the door for her. She was always friendly with me and greeted me kindly. I would see her pull up to the office in her Uber, get out, come in, and walk up the stairs all by herself,” recalled Miguel Esteban Robles, lead buyer for The FruitGuys’ LA facility.

He added, “I personally have been introduced to a lot of fruit because of Frieda’s: rambutans, kiwi berries, Lemon plums, gold kiwi, jackfruit, star fruit, Kiwano melons, Pepino melons, purple asparagus, purple sweet potatoes, Angelcots®, Buddha’s Hands, finger limes, dragon fruits (white, red, and yellow), Green Dragon® apples, young coconuts, black garlic, Cape gooseberries, and I’m sure there are plenty more. We were very fortunate to be in the same building as them, as it gave us the opportunity to try all of these unique items, and to know what ripe jackfruit smells like.”

When The FruitGuys’ founder, Chris Mittelstaedt, visited Frieda in 2019, he found her behind her desk doing what she loved: reviewing invoices.

“She was in the daily details of the business and doing the work that she loved on a regular basis, even in her 90s. She was truly an inspiring woman who changed the produce industry for the better and set a higher standard for what it means to be an engaged community business and a leader,” he said.

Speak Up

Frieda was politically active starting in her college years at UCLA in the 1940s. She supported numerous causes, including Dramatic Results (a Southern California student success organization), the Anti-Defamation League, Planned Parenthood, the American Civil Liberties Union, and Alzheimer’s research. She donated her brain to UC Irvine’s Institute for Memory Impairments and Neurological Disorders (UCI MIND) to help further brain research.

“Frieda’s connection with UCI MIND began in 2016 when she visited UCI with a group of female business leaders. She learned that an important part of Alzheimer’s research at UCI MIND relies on the willingness of people to participate in studies. Frieda asked, ‘Where can I sign up?’ She wanted to make a difference and became a spokesperson, encouraging others to do the same,” read a statement on the institute’s website.

The last quote on Frieda’s celebration of life program read: “Never badmouth others. Always listen to the whole story. Be a voice in your community. Be politically active, vote, speak up.”

Thank you, Frieda, for your service. And the fruit!