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 tropical fruits like bananas, plantains, and pineapples to North America. It started in 1970. Turbana was the first company to bring Fair Trade Certified bananas to North America. This means they make sure farmers are treated fairly and paid well.
Turbana cares about the environment and helping communities. They have a special foundation called Fundauniban. This foundation uses money from Turbana sales to help build schools, homes, and improve life for people in Colombia where the fruits are grown. Turbana is owned by two bigger companies: Uniban (a large group of banana growers) and Fyffes (a big fruit importer in Europe).
Contents
What is Turbana?
Turbana is one of the biggest companies that brings bananas to North America. They were the first to import Fair Trade Certified bananas to the continent. Turbana's main company, Uniban, is the largest producer of 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.
How Turbana Helps Farmers
Turbana is a leader in Fair Trade practices. This means they work to make sure farmers and workers are treated fairly. Their certified fruits come from 30 farms in Colombia that are run by Uniban. These farms promise food safety, good quality products, and a healthy environment. They also ensure excellent working conditions for their employees.
Even before Fair Trade certification existed, Turbana and Uniban used these fair practices. They give financial and technical help to farmers. They also make sure working conditions are safe. They support economic growth, education, and fair prices. All of this helps improve the lives of their farmers. A part of each purchase goes into a special fund. This fund is used for education, housing, small loans, health, and environmental projects in the farming areas.
Turbana's Journey Through Time
Turbana has a long history of bringing delicious fruits to people. Here are some important moments:
| 1966 | Uniban was created. It was a group of farmers who worked together to sell their fruit directly. |
| 1969 | Uniban signed a deal with Parker Banana from Florida. This allowed them to sell bananas in the U.S. The first shipment of 18,000 boxes of bananas arrived in the U.S. |
| 1970 | Turbana Corporation was officially started on August 11. Its job was to handle sales and operations in North America. On November 10, Turbana sent its first shipment to Jacksonville, Florida. |
| 1975 | Turbana started selling its fruit in Europe. Uniban made a deal with a company that is now called Fyffes Plc. This introduced the Turbana brand to Europe. |
| 1978 | Uniban opened a factory to make boxes. This helped the company grow and 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 different states. By the end of this year, Turbana was a big name in the North American banana market. |
| 1985 | Stores across North America started selling Turbana plantains. |
| 1987 | FundaUraba was created. This is now Fundauniban, Turbana and Uniban's foundation that helps communities. |
| 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 making bananas for other companies to sell under their own brand names. Today, Turbana is the biggest producer of these "Private Label" bananas in North America. |
| 2004 | Turbana began selling Fyffes pineapples. |
| 2005 | Uniban and Fyffes became partners. They now each own half of Turbana. |
| 2007 | Turbana signed a four-year deal to be the only supplier of bananas and pineapples for Disney. These fruits were sold under the Disney Garden Label. |
| 2008 | Uniban built its first snack factory in Colombia to make plantain chips. This created new jobs and helped plantain farmers earn more money. |
| 2010 | Turbana launched its own brand of Plantain Chips in six flavors: Chili, Chili Lime, Sweet, Lime, Garlic, and Natural. |
| 2012 | Turbana launched its "Tropical" line across the country. They now offered 18 products like Yucca, Chayote, Coconut, and Avocado. This program helped stores serve the growing number of Hispanic and other ethnic groups. |
What Turbana Sells
Turbana offers a wide variety of fresh fruits and snacks:
| Bananas |
|
| Plantains |
|
| Tropicals |
|
| Pineapples | Fyffes Gold pineapples |
| Snacks | Turbana Plantain Chips |
