Avocado toast. Avocado chutney on fish. Avocado chunks in a salad. Guacamole burgers. One green ingredient, many food service possibilities for all dayparts.
The Gordon Food Service Markon brand sources avocados through MegaMex Foods, a company with roots in Mexico’s rich avocado-farming community. MegaMex honours its community by giving back in many ways, including protecting the environment and providing for workers.
MegaMex’s overarching promise is to provide quality and consistency, which fits the Markon Ready-Set-Serve and 5-Star Safety Program profile. Kitchen operators save time and benefit from the convenience of Markon products. These avocados are ready to use in recipes. When using halved, chunked or pulped varieties, much of the work is done when it comes to preparing meals.
Avocado halves are ready to slice and fan across a Nashville hot chicken sandwich. A pouch of pulp can be squeezed from the packaging and whipped into an avocado smoothie or salad dressing. Chunked avocado is ready as a taco topper. Premade, pico-style guacamole is as simple as an appetizer or side dish can get.
From Tree to Table
It starts in the avocado orchards in the Mexican state of Michoacán, which touches the Pacific Ocean and extends east toward Mexico City in the central part of the country. All of the MegaMex avocados are harvested in this region.
“We work with independent farmers and a handful of fruit consolidators and packing houses. We purchase roughly 200 million pounds of fruit each year,” said MegaMex Senior Director of Operations Andrew Lower.
The journey from tree to table starts with all-natural Hass avocados that are hand-picked at just the right time. From the farms, they go to Sabinas, Mexico, home of the high-tech, environmentally friendly MegaMex facility. There, the avocados are stored in a climate-controlled room to maintain off-the-tree freshness.
To assure the tree-fresh goodness reaches the table, no avocados are sliced open and hand-scooped until an order is placed. The avocados are then packed in halves, cubed, smashed, etc., to the order specifications before going through a high-pressure pasteurization process.
“We are a made-to-order facility and all avocado products are a single ingredient list – just avocados!” Lower said. “We use HPP (high-pressure pasteurization), an all natural process that uses 87,000 lbs of water pressure, to eliminate naturally occurring pathogens. Food safety is our No. 1 priority.”
Protecting People and the Planet
Other priorities include conserving resources and giving back to the community. With 4,500 employees and headquarters in Southern California, the 15-year-old company recognizes its big footprint comes with a responsibility to care for the planet and its people.
“We became Green Circle Certified in 2022, with the ultimate goal of being zero-waste certified,” Lower said.
The company hasn’t reached its zero-waste goal yet. However, Lower reports that 84% of all waste generated at the facility is diverted from landfills. He said a project this year should allow them to achieve more than 90% waste diversion.
Recycling is a big part of that effort. Rather than send avocado waste to the landfill or a compost facility, the skins and pits are ground up and used as feed at nearby cattle operations, reducing the need for soy- and corn-based feed.
Water used in the Sabinas avocado processing system flows into the company’s water treatment plant where it is reused and recirculated, reducing water demand at the plant by 70% to 80%.
Meanwhile, the company recognizes the value of community and people. MegaMex not only conducts regular toy drives, blood drives and food drives to support communities in Mexico and California, but it provides for its workers as well. Employees in Mexico get free transportation to the plant, ongoing healthcare, and they are eligible to participate in scholarship programs.
Avocados for Every Occasion
“The mission of MegaMex Foods is to bring the spirit of Mexico to every table, and nowhere is that more evident than our innovative line of avocado and guacamole products,” said Ryan Michaels, MegaMex President and CEO.
High-quality products, a focus on convenience and 100% usable avocado products are hallmarks of MegaMex and Markon Ready-Set-Serve. Shop the MegaMex avocado selections available through Markon!
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