U.S.-based Del Rey Avocado Company has purchased a new facility in Southern California, as it continues its national expansion.

The warehouse facility, which is a short drive away from the company's headquarters in Vista, will add 43,000 square feet of cold storage and ripening rooms to the existing footprint in San Diego County.

The plant will service customers the western U.S. as well as imports from Mexico.

The company noted that the market in the Western and Southwestern U.S. continues to grow, with an increasing number of retailers adding additional SKUs where they traditionally carried only bulk avocados, boosting overall sales.

“Our growth an expansion would not be possible without the support of our customers and the tremendous relationships we enjoy with them. In addition to our customers, our employees are the key to our growth and success. Not a day goes by that we don’t count our blessings,” said Bob Lucy, president of Del Rey.

Del Rey Avocado is one of the few California-based companies that owns its facilities on the West and East Coasts, which gives the company total control over operations.

Bob Siemer, chief agronomist and partner, said: “Opening a new facility has long been our goal and desire to streamline our operations, improve efficiencies and offer us an opportunity to be innovative in meeting the need of our customers.

"The new Vista facility will also provide our growers many benefits as it will allow us to receive fruit faster and get products to market faster."