TruSource Launches Produce Collective Focused on Local Service and National Reach
TruSource has officially launched as a fresh produce collective designed to combine the strengths of regional distributors while preserving the local relationships and service models that customers value.
The new organization currently includes Freshway Foods, Forestwood and Nickey Gregory, bringing together more than 100 years of combined produce industry experience. Collectively, the companies serve more than 4,000 customers across retail, foodservice and wholesale channels, with a distribution network spanning 26 states east of the Mississippi River.
Founded in early 2025, TruSource was created to address growing demands within the fresh produce supply chain, where customers increasingly seek both local responsiveness and broader sourcing capabilities.
“Fresh produce distribution has always been a relationship business,” said Elton Evans, founder, chairman and CEO of TruSource. “TruSource was built on the belief that scale creates value only when it strengthens the people, relationships and local service customers rely on every day.”
Under the collective’s structure, each operating company will maintain its existing brand, leadership team and customer relationships while gaining access to shared resources, sourcing opportunities, operational support and expanded capabilities.
Company officials said the model is designed to help regional distributors remain competitive in a marketplace that increasingly requires supply chain flexibility, sourcing strength and value-added services.
For customers, the company said the benefit is access to greater scale and reliability without sacrificing local service. Customers will continue working with the same operating companies and sales teams they know while benefiting from enhanced sourcing, distribution, processing, quality and technology resources.
“Customers need partners who can deliver consistency, reliability and responsiveness across an increasingly complex fresh produce marketplace,” said Kristie Waters, chief commercial officer of TruSource. “TruSource gives our operating companies the ability to stay close to their customers and markets while gaining the broader capabilities, resources and support needed to serve them even better.”
The company said future growth will focus on adding regional operating companies that share similar customer-focused cultures and leadership philosophies.
As consolidation continues throughout the produce industry, TruSource represents a different approach—one that seeks to combine the advantages of scale with the independence and local market expertise that have long defined successful regional distributors.
