Turbana facts for kids
| Industry | Produce |
|---|---|
| Founded | August 11, 1970 in Coral Gables, Florida, U.S. |
| Headquarters |
,
U.S.
|
|
Area served
|
North America |
| Parent | Uniban |
Turbana Corporation is a company that brings fresh fruits and vegetables, like bananas and pineapples, to North America. It started in 1970 and is owned by the farmers who grow the produce. Turbana was the first company to bring special Fair Trade Certified bananas to North America.
Turbana cares a lot about helping the communities where their fruits are grown. They have a special foundation called Fundauniban. Since 1987, this foundation has invested a lot of money, over $250 million, into projects. These projects help with education, housing, building roads, and protecting the environment in Colombia. Turbana gives a part of what you pay for their products to Fundauniban. Turbana is owned by Uniban, which is the world's largest group of banana growers. It is also partly owned by Fyffes, a big fruit importer in Europe.
What Turbana Does
Turbana is one of the biggest companies that brings bananas to North America. They were also the first to bring Fair Trade Certified bananas to the continent. Turbana's main company, Uniban, grows the most Fair Trade bananas in the world.
Turbana sells many fresh tropical products. These include bananas, plantains, and pineapples. They also offer 18 different kinds of ethnic tropical fruits. Besides fresh fruit, Turbana makes plantain chips in six different flavors.
Fair Trade Practices
Turbana is a leader in fair trade. This means they make sure farmers and workers are treated well. Their Fair Trade Certified fruits come from 30 farms in Colombia. These farms follow rules for food safety and product quality. They also protect the environment and make sure workers have good conditions.
Uniban is the largest certified grower of bananas in the world. Turbana and Uniban have always used fair trade ideas, even before official certifications existed. They give financial and technical help to farmers. They also make sure working conditions are safe. Their goal is to improve the lives of farmers by offering fair prices and supporting their communities. A part of every purchase goes into a special fund. This fund helps farm workers with education, housing, small loans, health, and environmental projects.
Turbana's Journey: A Timeline
| 1966 | Uniban was created. It was a group of farmers who joined together to sell their fruit directly. |
| April 1969 | Parker Banana, a company from Florida, agreed to buy bananas from Uniban. Uniban sent its first shipment of 18,000 boxes of bananas to the U.S. |
| August 11, 1970 | Turbana Corporation was started. Its job was to handle sales and operations for the North American market. |
| November 10, 1970 | Turbana sent its first shipment of fruit to the U.S. city of Jacksonville, Florida. |
| 1975 | Turbana started selling its products in Europe. Uniban signed a deal with a company that is now Fyffes Plc. This introduced the Turbana brand to Europe. |
| 1978 | Uniban opened a factory to make boxes. This helped the company control more of its production. It also created over 100 new jobs. |
| 1983 | Turbana opened a new shipping route from Turbo, Colombia, to Newark, U.S. They hired new sales teams and opened offices in Maryland, Massachusetts, and New Jersey. By the end of the year, Turbana was a major player in the North American banana market. |
| 1985 | Stores across North America began selling Turbana plantains. |
| 1987 | FundaUraba was created. This is now Fundauniban, Turbana and Uniban's social foundation. |
| 1992 | Turbana introduced new types of bananas, like baby bananas and red bananas. They created special packaging and taught stores about these new "exotic" fruits. |
| 1994 | Turbana started its first "Private Label Program" for Stop&Shop in Boston. This means they grew and packaged bananas under the store's own brand name. Today, Turbana is the largest producer of private label bananas in North America. |
| 2004 | Turbana began selling Fyffes pineapples. |
| 2005 | Uniban and Fyffes formed a partnership. Both companies now own 50% of Turbana. |
| 2007 | Turbana signed a four-year agreement to be the only supplier of bananas and pineapples for Disney, under the Disney Garden Label. |
| 2008 | Uniban, Turbana's parent company, built its first snack factory in Uraba, Colombia. This factory makes plantain chips. It created new jobs and gave plantain farmers another way to earn money. |
| March 2010 | Turbana launched its own brand of Plantain Chips. They came in six flavors: Chili, Chili Lime, Sweet, Lime, Garlic, and Natural. |
| 2012 | Turbana launched its "Tropical line" across the country. This included 18 products like Yucca, Chayote, Coconut, and Avocado. This program helped stores offer more choices to different groups of people. |
Turbana's Products
Turbana offers a variety of fresh produce and snacks:
| Bananas |
|
| Plantains |
|
| Tropicals |
|
| Pineapples | Fyffes Gold pineapples |
| Snacks | Turbana Plantain Chips |
