Hello! I’m Chris Buchanan, the Marketing Wiseapple with ORCHARD At The OFFICE, and my primary aim in conveying our historical narrative is to make it as palatable to any potential reader as the premium produce we provide. (As you can already see, if alliteration’s your thing, I’ll undoubtedly provide that in abundance, in addition to employing a host of other literary devices to the extent my limited skills can conjure.) As the story of how ORCHARD At The OFFICE grew from a simple idea to north Texas’ largest office fresh fruit delivery service starts in 2010, which predates my own involvement in the organization, the first installment in this adventure – the one you’re presently reading – will be told in the third person. The idea for this company belongs to Kevin Long, our Chief Banana. Personally I can claim no credit, but then, the best things that have happened in my personal life were never really my idea, which is a sentiment any successful husband will certainly understand.
Cast your mind, if you will, back to 2010. Ke$ha was on the satellite radio “singing” “TiK ToK” and Taio Cruz was lighting it up like it’s dynamite. The popular show The Biggest Loser, in its ninth season, continued to inspire and motivate the nation to achieve its health and fitness goals, and insurance firms were increasingly incentivizing corporations to establish wellness programs such as smoking cessation, fitness challenges, and healthy snack alternatives, as a way to help everyone’s bottom line, both figuratively and literally.
Amidst all this, native Texan Kevin Long was employed as a director of an advertising firm in Dallas. Every week it was someone’s duty to bring in the morning munchables – predictably, donuts and bagels. Now, few are those who would eschew a lovely glazed donut, but Kevin thought, “hey, what if we brought in something healthy, like bananas and apples? Everybody loves fresh fruit, and it seems everyone’s trying to get healthy.” And lo, he did just that, bringing in the bounty to the break room, and the response was overwhelmingly positive. So much so, in fact, that Kevin partnered with relative Dennis McCart, left his organization, and soon they took their idea to office kitchens throughout the Metroplex.
And so it was on October 15, 2010 that ORCHARD At The OFFICE took root. At first, it was a two-man operation, with Kevin and Denny arriving at the farmers’ markets sometimes before the agrarians themselves, then artfully arranging the yield and delivering it themselves to their “friends”.
(As an aside, I must tell you that it is the ORCHARD At The OFFICE way to view our clients and vendors as friends and partners, so much so that our strategy room which would be known in many offices as the “war room” is instead the “friend zone”. Our job titles, which include “Office Peach”, “Facilities Bosc”, and “Truckin’ Tangelo”, attest to the commitment to a happy, healthy environment.)