Oasis Date Aims To Take Over Medjool Market
One Medjool date producer and processor has rebranded and is already flexing its muscle in the Southwest.
Oasis Date (formerly Oasis Date Gardens) announced today it is the largest date producer and processor in North America with over 5,000 farmed acres of organic Medjool dates as well as the world’s first Regenerative Organic Certified farm. The company’s operations include a 500,000 sq. ft. processing facility in Yuma, Ariz., where its production capabilities include dicing, extruding, and paste and syrup production.
The vertically integrated business makes branded date products and is the majority supplier of date brand Natural Delights, which is the category leader in sales and distribution.
The news represents the “coming together of various aspects of the domestic date supply chain,” said a representative from the company.
As date syrup has increasingly become a sought-after natural sweetener in food and beverage applications, Oasis Date is positioning to be the go-to provider for many opportunities in the value chain.
Date-based snacks are growing in demand. Brands like Magic Dates and Joolies have positioned around the hero ingredient with indulgent treats while date syrup is being used as a substitute for refined sugar by chocolate bar maker Spring & Mulberry and Just Date.
“After spending the past year building Oasis Date, I believe dates are a tremendously underserved category, ripe for disruption and growth,” said CEO Adam Cooper in a press release. “I’ve had a lot of experience turning an underappreciated snack category into one having a strong presence at retail and my focus is now solidly fixed on dates.”
Cooper comes to the company after nearly 12 years at The Wonderful Company where he had a variety of roles in marketing, insights and strategy. Most recently, Cooper held the CEO role at Yumi Dates & Woodspur Farms for the last year, which was recently incorporated under the Oasis Date business.
Joining Cooper are other agriculture and fruit industry executives including CFO Keith Mitchell, who previously served as CFO at Sun World International and Dole Food Company; Farming COO Ignacio Portilla, a veteran farming operations manager with over 20 years of experience in North America and Latin American; and Processing COO Ted Johnson, an experienced Medjool date operations manager.
