February 27, 2025 — At Southeast Produce Council’s Event in Orlando next week, Kaliroy Fresh LLC BB #:284503 will be officially launching a new, exclusive patented peel back shaker snacking tomato clamshell made from recycled PET.
The design of the clamshell was inspired by the architecture of a greenhouse structure. Please visit Tom Lyons and David Robidoux at the Kaliroy Fresh Innovation Station Booth to see the product in person!
The unique and memorable design allows the clamshell to be shipped as a “commodity” pint clamshell without the need for new item set up, however it has a consumer-friendly peel back label with a shaker feature on the top. Kaliroy soft launched the shaker clamshell in November of 2024, and it has been a huge success so far, and sales continue to grow significantly, gaining market share rapidly.
Tom Lyons said, “we have never sold so many clamshell Grape Tomatoes in the history of our company.”
Over the last few years, after listening to most retailers, their main complaint was tied to “getting shorted” constantly on Branded CPG Wannabe Grape Tomatoes, so we focused on solving this problem by developing unique packaging, and more importantly securing high flavor varieties that we could easily produce year-round.
At the end of the day, the heart of our company is that we are a high-volume company, so we really felt that we could solve this problem, after stress testing our model with some hard-core SWOT exercises. We might be weak in marketing because we like to be subtle by design, however we are the little engine that could when it comes to volume and consistency in flavor and quality, so we embarked on this snacking tomato adventure to solve the problem buyers have been constantly complaining about.
We have increased our snacking tomato acreage 6000% over the last 7 years.
Kaliroy’s story began over 50 years ago in Sinaloa, Mexico. Eduardo de la Vega Sr., known as “El Arquitecto,” started as a renowned architect before pursuing his true passion—farming. After marrying the daughter of a Greek immigrant tomato farmer, he traded in his ruler and protractor for a tractor and a shovel and Kaliroy was born.
Initially a small green bean and corn farm, Kaliroy evolved into a major tomato producer in Sinaloa. In 1994, Eduardo de la Vega Jr. joined the business, driving expansion into year-round tomato production. In 2001, he established a greenhouse operation in Jalisco, now Mexico’s largest tomato farming operation, employing over 4,000 workers. In 2022, Kaliroy expanded to Baja California to supply summer and fall Roma tomatoes, continuing to grow annually.
Today, under the leadership of the De la Vega family, Kaliroy is the leading Mexican tomato supplier with operations in Sinaloa, Jalisco, and Baja California. The company provides a consistent year-round supply of round, Roma, and grape tomatoes while creating valuable job opportunities in both Mexico and the U.S.
Contact:
Tom Lyons
VP Business Development, Sales, & Marketing
Kaliroy Fresh LLC
1-619-997-0156
