By Francisco Campama

Cover image: Francisco Campama and his business partner, Steve Bryant

Based in the heart of the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, Frupco Expediting and Services, Inc is facing some exciting changes in leadership. The family-owned organization was founded in 1978 by Juan Campama, with his son Francisco following in his footsteps.

However, after 38 years of growing the company into one of the largest fresh fruit 3PL companies in the U.S., Francisco Campama is selling his interest in Frupco Expediting to his business partner, Steve Bryant who had been growing his ownership interests throughout the years. 

In 1999, Francisco decided to take on the family venture and bought the company from his father. A few years later, the firm’s expediting services grew expotentially and he decided to sell the inspection operation to Decofrut to focus on the continued growth of expediting.

Francisco (R) and his father Juan Campama

Francisco and Steve’s joint efforts in growing Frupco’s expediting division cemented their 13-year business relationship and jointly established Fresh Harvest Transportation which complemented the operations of Frupco Expediting & Services by  handling the transportation needs for the numerous reputable importers they expedited. All of this was done while establishing a leading firm in transporting refrigerated cargo for not only imports but also domestic fruits and vegetables. 

Campama's new business venture, as an independent consultant, will now be focused on connecting, in his words, “reputable American importers with reputable exporters out of Chile and Peru”.  "My new goal is to connect importers and exporters, along with new companies seeking to import directly from Chile to the U.S. and viceversa. I can assist them with everything related to import logistics and operations to help them grow their businesses,” he said.

A family legacy

Juan Campama started Frupco in 1978 as a fruit inspection company for exporters from Chile. Soon thereafter, the firm began expediting fruit for importers and grew to expediting about 1.5 million boxes in 1999. Today, Frupco expedites around 20 million boxes annually.

Juan was an intricate part of the Chilean stone fruit growth, as he was the largest exporter of Nemaguard rootstock and pits to Chile. During his career in the produce industry, he also worked with the largest nurseries in the country and remained very active between 1980-2000.

Juan passed away in August 2020, leaving a legacy not only for his family, but the produce industry as a whole.

Francisco Campama is available for consulting and can be contacted at CampamaF@gmail.com or (310) 877-5262.