privately owned industry foods founded 1962 headquarters los alamitos california united states of america key people frieda caplan karen caplan jackie caplan wiggins products fruit vegetables gourmet items website www.friedas.com frieda s inc. is a privately owned company based in los alamitos california which markets and distributes specialty produce . 1 it was founded in 1962 by frieda rapoport caplan . 2 it was the first wholesale produce company in the united states to be founded owned and operated by a woman . 3 frieda s inc. is credited with introducing many produce items to the u.s. including the kiwifruit brown mushrooms alfalfa sprouts spaghetti squash jicama shallots mangos donut peaches and multiple asian and latin specialties . 4 history edit in 1956 frieda caplan first worked as a bookkeeper at giumarra bros. fruit co. later on she began selling brown mushrooms which were a specialty item in those days . 5 after the success of selling mushrooms caplan opened her own company in 1962 with mushrooms as the primary item . she started with a small stand at the los angeles wholesale produce market . 6 once titled the queen of kiwi caplan gained international recognition from bringing the kiwifruit to the united states . 7 this fruit was discovered in new zealand and originally known as the chinese gooseberries . 8 caplan renamed this fruit after the country s flightless bird the kiwi . 9 she then worked on convincing california growers to plant the fruit . she was successful and soon california had more than 700 kiwifruit growers . 10 frieda caplan s eldest daughter karen caplan was promoted to president and ceo in 1986 . jackie caplan wiggins frieda s younger daughter serves as vice president and business chief operating officer . 11 in 1990 karen caplan and jackie caplan wiggins became owners of frieda s inc. 12 in that same year the name of the company changed from frieda s finest produce specialties inc. to frieda s inc. 13 in 2015 the film fear no fruit was released . the film chronicles caplan s influence on american cuisine . 14 15 products edit frieda s inc. distributes more than 600 exotic produce and specialty gourmet items to grocery stores and foodservice distributors . 16 hundreds of the products are labeled with detailed descriptions usage and handling tips and offers for free recipes via mail or email . 17 frieda s inc. has a 100 % customer satisfaction guarantee . 18 for every consumer complaint the company will issue a full refund plus postage to any customer who is not satisfied with frieda s products . 19 references edit merryman john march 1995 . mother gooseberry . orange coast . access date requires url help davis mark 1992 . an appetizing afternoon at frieda s inc. headquarters . ucla . access date requires url help frieda caplan founds innovative specialty produce company . jewish women s archive . retrieved 10 january 2013 . caplan karen 2001 . purple kiwi cookbook . los angeles karen caplan frieda s inc. isbn 0 9703226 0 7 . schrack don 23 july 2010 . frieda caplan gender blind but laser focused on business . the packer . access date requires url help hautala laura 12 august 2012 . a pioneer in the produce field . la times . access date requires url help seager susan 22 june 1986 . exotic goodies produce big payoff for l.a. company . la times . access date requires url help caplan frieda july 1999 . the kiwi to my success . hemispheres . access date requires url help munoz olivia 11 october 2006 . farmers try to strike gold with new kiwi . the washington post . access date requires url help larson erik november 1989 . strange fruits . inc. access date requires url help blume aimee . frieda s specialty produce co. marks golden anniversary . courier press . retrieved 10 january 2013 . koss feder laura 17 july 2000 . business too close to home . time . access date requires url help frieda s inc . retrieved 10 january 2013 . fear no fruit . fear no fruit . retrieved 2015 12 28 . fear no fruit 2015 . imdb . retrieved 28 december 2015 . semmelman elliot . frieda caplan . temple beth david . retrieved 10 january 2013 . caplan karen ; tristan miller . no time for lemons . va interactive . access date requires url help kelly hazel ; lori willis . enjoy the sweet taste of summer melons . schnucks . retrieved 10 january 2013 . kelly hazel . frieda s inc company profile pdf . frieda s inc. retrieved 10 january 2013 . retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title frieda % 27s inc. & oldid 724754774 categories food manufacturers of the united statescompanies based in los angeles county californialos alamitos californiahidden categories pages using citations with accessdate and no url navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 11 june 2016 at 07 47 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; 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