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PRESS RELEASE: Metroplex company makes healthy snacks their business

As a concept, wellness has become a cultural concern that has found firm footing in the corporate environment. Businesses are increasingly recognizing the link between healthy lifestyles and productivity, and are willing to allocate resources to providing everything from smoking cessation materials to aerobic instruction. There are even insurance providers willing to reimburse entrepreneurs who take steps to contribute to the well-being of their staff. Weight loss challenges, yoga classes, fruits and vegetables in the break rooms and board rooms – these all contribute, figuratively and literally, to a healthier bottom line.

In the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex, one company has taken up the challenge of delivering wellness to offices…one bite at a time.

Richardson, Texas-based ORCHARD At The OFFICE has a singular mission: to deliver fresh fruit to the businesses of north Texas. By putting together a variety of baskets of top-quality produce, they allow companies small and large to eat healthy with minimal fuss. But these folks are not mere “grocery-getters”: their knowledgeable and energetic staff knows their fruit facts. By viewing their clients as friends, and seeing themselves as partners on a mission to provide health and great taste, ORCHARD At The OFFICE has grown from a two-man effort into a round-the-clock operation dedicated to the cause of healthy living.

“It’s an amazing response,” says Kevin Long, founder and Chief Banana (as it says on his card). “People welcome the difference.” He should know. He first got the idea when he was employed as a director of an advertising firm, and decided to experiment with bringing in bananas and apples in lieu of the more sugar-centric morning munchables. The result was gratifying: “they attacked the baskets! They were really excited.” So much so that Long got the confidence to take his idea and start his own enterprise in 2010. As time has gone by and the business has expanded, so have the offerings: customers can receive the ever-popular bananas, apples, oranges, a variety of pears, citrus, stone fruits, grapes and berries. “Helping our friends find the right mix for their office is part of the fun,” says Chris Buchanan, the Marketing Wiseapple.

Their friends certainly seem satisfied. Monday morning sees a flurry of activity at the company’s headquarters, as baskets of fruits in all manner of inviting colors are loaded into a slew of vehicles to find their way into office kitchens throughout the Dallas/Fort Worth area. The drivers operate as the primary point of contact with their friends and serve to answer questions and note any special accommodations. Regular deliveries are made, special events are scheduled, and even a few gift baskets are dropped off by those wanting to give other companies the gift of health.

For the Chief Banana, that’s what it all comes back to. “Fruit is a gift on so many levels. It’s a gift to yourself.”

 

For more information on ORCHARD At The OFFICE, you can go to http://orchardattheoffice.com or send a message to getfruit@orchardattheoffice.com.

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Taking Root: ORCHARD At The OFFICE grows

ORCHARD At The OFFICE stemmed from a simple idea: delivering fresh fruit to offices throughout the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. In their pioneering days, this necessitated Chief Banana Kevin Long and his partner Dennis McCart rising at hours that would make a bat groggy as they hit the farmers’ markets as early as possible to prepare baskets for their friends. With the assistance of a small team of delivery drivers, ORCHARD At The OFFICE soon grew to the point where they could assert themselves as “north Texas’ largest office fresh fruit delivery service”.

In March of 2012, tragedy struck as “Uncle Denny” passed away from a sudden myocardial infarction. His loss, and legacy, are still felt in the company today, as both bolstered Long’s conviction that the mission of “healthy snack alternatives” is indeed vital to society’s well-being.

"Uncle Denny" left an enduring legacy with our company and community.
“Uncle Denny” left an enduring legacy with our company and community.

Under these difficult circumstances, it became necessary to employ additional staff to fill Uncle Denny’s considerably sizable (and always stylish) shoes. One friend of Denny, Ali Sheikh, approached the Long family immediately offering to do anything he could to help. He is now the longest-tenured staff member and his contributions at so crucial a moment will always be valued.

From here, the Long family reached out to other friends. It is at this point that I cease to speak in the third person, and “they” becomes “we”. I, the Marketing Wiseapple, joined the ORCHARD At The OFFICE family to help with deliveries and to champion the cause of healthy snacking in all available media, a role for which I am ideally suited as I am both gregarious in personality and ridiculously obdurate in temperament. I only include this autobiographical information to say that each member of our team is indeed unique, not just in respect to our workplace, but indeed within our community. We are proud of our staff because they are so much more than “good hands” – they are good people, (See future posts for more on each team member.)

Getting started on a Monday morning in the Metroplex.
Ali (a.k.a. Junior) getting started on a Monday morning in the Metroplex.

By May of 2015 we had expanded into Dallas, Fort Worth, and every suburb major and minor. Vans loaded with goodness depart each weekday ready to bring the freshest produce available to our smiling friends strewn hither and yon through our sprawling Metroplex. This necessitated a relocation, and after a great deal of searching, we found a new home…just two doors down from where we were! This story will be told in our next installment…

(back to Our Story)

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Sowing Seeds: ORCHARD At The OFFICE beginnings

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.

Kevin, our Chief Banana, making a delectable delivery in our early days.
Kevin, our Chief Banana, making a delectable delivery in our early days.

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.

Before long ORCHARD At The OFFICE fresh fruit baskets graced the kitchen countertops of some of the finest Metroplex businesses.
Before long ORCHARD At The OFFICE fresh fruit baskets graced the kitchen countertops of some of the finest Metroplex businesses.

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.)

(back to Our Story)