My guest Frank Chavez, CEO of Agrofruits and AgroCoCo is no stranger to the agriculture industry. As a child, Frank spent summers on his family farm in Mexico, and his time there instilled him with a strong work ethic. By 2023, Frank has not only founded two of his own businesses, AgroCoco and AgroFruits, but also partners with PATROMEX, Nutra Fruits Int., and Coconutworld Exports. He has valued expertise within the agriculture industry and his innovative use of coconuts has transformed the market; however, the longevity of Frank’s career is built from this personal business practice -- treat people with respect. Frank’s commitment to producing the finest coconut products trickles down to his investment in his customers. The familial manner of Frank Sanchez’ solidifies the relationship between grower and customer. His story and success have touched the lives of many and demonstrates the power of investing in community. Please enjoy my conversation with Frank.
My guest Frank Chavez, CEO of Agrofruits and AgroCoCo is no stranger to the agriculture industry. As a child, Frank spent summers on his family farm in Mexico, and his time there instilled him with a strong work ethic. By 2023, Frank has not only founded two of his own businesses, AgroCoco and AgroFruits, but also partners with PATROMEX, Nutra Fruits Int., and Coconutworld Exports. He has valued expertise within the agriculture industry and his innovative use of coconuts has transformed the market; however, the longevity of Frank’s career is built from this personal business practice -- treat people with respect. Frank’s commitment to producing the finest coconut products trickles down to his investment in his customers. The familial manner of Frank Sanchez’ solidifies the relationship between grower and customer. His story and success have touched the lives of many and demonstrates the power of investing in community. Please enjoy my conversation with Frank.
This episode is sponsored by UnitedAg, one of the largest association health plans to offer healthcare to the agriculture industry of California and Arizona.
Kirti Mutatkar, President and CEO of UnitedAg. Reach me at kmutatkar@unitedag.org, www.linkedin.com/in/kirtimutatkar
UnitedAg's website - www.unitedag.org
Episode Contributors - Frank Chavez, Paul LeCrone, Rhianna Macias, and Kirti Mutatkar
The episode is also sponsored by
Brent Eastman Insurance Services Inc. - https://brenteastman.com/
Blue Shield of California - https://www.blueshieldca.com/
Elite Medical - https://www.elitecorpmed.com/
Gallagher - https://www.ajg.com/
SAIN Medical - https://sainmedical.com/
Kirti : [00:00:10] Frank. [00:00:10] This is exciting to sit down here and chat with you because as I was telling you earlier, when earlier when you walked in, you [00:00:20] one of the things I remember about you when I came in to United was how comfortable you made me feel. I remember when I was at board meetings and stuff like that when you [00:00:30] used to have our events, I used to walk around and see where is Frank and Elsa sitting? And I used to go sit next to Next at that table. I don't know if you noticed, but [00:00:40] that's a very strong thing about you, Frank. So it's exciting to be here and just talking to you.
Frank : [00:00:45] Well, thank you for inviting me. This is a great opportunity to [00:00:50] talk a little bit about a lot of different things that are going on in the industry. So thank you for the invitation.
Kirti : [00:00:57] And before so we before we get started. So I am Keerthi [00:01:00] Mutatkar. Just for our listeners, the president and CEO at United. You want to give an intro to who you are and what you do?
Frank : [00:01:07] Sure. Actually, I'm the one [00:01:10] that do the toilet cleaning. Cleaning and no, I'm just kidding. I'm the CEO of a company that I found [00:01:20] is a agriculture Agro Fruits International, been pretty much involved since 1994, and [00:01:30] this industry has been a lot of fun. I enjoy the all the aspects of the industry.
Kirti : [00:01:37] I You said 1994. You've been involved in [00:01:40] agriculture.
Frank : [00:01:41] Yes.
Kirti : [00:01:41] And how did you get into that? So this was you were not born into it, right?
Frank : [00:01:45] Well, not necessarily. My I mean, my dad had [00:01:50] and the good old days, he had a lot of farms in Mexico. And of course, one thing I [00:02:00] mean, now I love what my dad did to me back then. I wasn't that much fun because I remember my [00:02:10] dad comment was that during the school year with your mom guys, but during the summer time you are all mine. And he used to, [00:02:20] you know, expecting us to be at the farm helping out and all the different tasks, like any use [00:02:30] like a regular worker. And I used to hate that. But in a sense, I guess that really set the basis for [00:02:40] my work habits and and the love of the agriculture industry. I'm pretty much grew up during the summer times involving all the aspects [00:02:50] of a farm. I mean, from cultivating, harvesting, cattle raising, milking cows. I mean, I pretty much done everything.
Kirti : [00:02:59] That's a very interesting. [00:03:00] Yesterday I was watching this YouTube interview of a famous Indian chef. His name is Ranveer Brar, and he said something very similar. [00:03:10] He said during summer holidays he used to do very similar with his grandfather and father. And at that time he said, all my friends used to say, Oh, [00:03:20] they've been here, they've been there for vacation, and I was spending this time. But he said, in hindsight, that was the best thing that could have ever happened to me because [00:03:30] that's the reason I am now this world famous chef, very similar to your story.
Frank : [00:03:35] And I will I will not change this. If I start [00:03:40] all over again, I will do it the same way. Do that all over again. I mean, to me, it was probably the the greatest education.
Kirti : [00:03:47] So then you've always been involved in [00:03:50] agriculture, then?
Frank : [00:03:51] Yes. Yes. And I mean, the priority in our household was education. So we got kind of pushed [00:04:00] to there were nine nine in the family and everybody got I mean, had to go to school and [00:04:10] pretty much everybody got, I guess, like a title. I'm the only college dropout that. [00:04:20] But I don't mind. I mean, because I was able to get involved with a lot of different things, a lot of different activities, [00:04:30] tried everything from real estate to actually I used to own a bar.
Kirti : [00:04:37] Oh, you did? I didn't know that part.
Frank : [00:04:38] Okay. In Anaheim [00:04:40] is still there. I think it became kind of famous in the last few years because a lot of musicians came out of that [00:04:50] bar.
Kirti : [00:04:51] And that was started by you.
Frank : [00:04:53] You started actually, I kind of re revamp the bar because it was a mess when I bought [00:05:00] it.
Kirti : [00:05:01] And I didn't know that that history of yours.
Frank : [00:05:04] Yeah. So I got involved in so many different facets of, I guess, of life. But [00:05:10] my my true love has always been the ag industry.
Kirti : [00:05:16] So and so from the bar. That's when you moved on. And you did start [00:05:20] your company.
Frank : [00:05:22] Actually, I been a rebel probably most of my life. I never settled for, like [00:05:30] 8 to 5 job. Yeah. So I always had more than one activity going on. And I was the VP of a nursery [00:05:40] while I was running the bar. So I kind of did different things at the same time. Right. But yeah, I got [00:05:50] involved with the nursery industry for almost 20 years.
Kirti : [00:05:54] And then how did how did the coconut thing happen? When when did that happen?
Frank : [00:05:58] Well, it's [00:06:00] kind of funny because back in the old days, I guess it was in the early 90s, then nursery industry, [00:06:10] they really didn't had a good marketing system. And someone from Australia, Anthony Distillery, I think was or is [00:06:20] his name. He patented the rose, they call it Flower carpet and it was only eight nurseries [00:06:30] in the US that was allowed to reproduce that. Plant. One of our nurseries was one [00:06:40] of the ones that had a permit to reproduce or propagate that plant from cuttings. And I had a really hard time with [00:06:50] those because they, I mean the cuttings got rotten either because if I use peat moss it was too, too much [00:07:00] moisture retention. If I use perlite, it was too dry. So I was playing around with different things and I remember my mom's garden [00:07:10] always had the most beautiful roses that I can remember. And so I one time when I was on vacation [00:07:20] in Colima visiting my younger brother, we were talking about the problem that I had with this rose. And he said, you know, one of my friend's dad had [00:07:30] mountains and mountains of a product that they've been using, you know, like the ones that we used to use for the Roses at home, right? So he took me [00:07:40] there, I took a sample, brought it back to the States and play with, I mean, at the beginning, really poor results. But I keep playing until [00:07:50] I was able to find a perfect solution for the rose. And so that was the beginning of this [00:08:00] business. One visit to Colima, maybe a couple shots of tequila and maybe a good cold beer and [00:08:10] conversation. And that's how this business started.
Frank : [00:08:13] And that was that was so much excitement when I started noticing the roses propagating [00:08:20] and the root system growing like crazy. Then one time when I was really, really excited about, um, we [00:08:30] opened a new facility in San Diego. I didn't know that that area it can get really, really cold. We were not [00:08:40] prepared and had to move from Irvine to Valley Center. Um, maybe like 6 or 7 truckloads [00:08:50] of the flower carpet. Rose and that we just transplanted in somewhere with the peat moss mix and the other was with Coco Mix. So [00:09:00] anyway, we had a really cold weather. I went to visit the facility and I noticed a couple blocks completely [00:09:10] gone, I mean dead and the others next to it. Beautiful. So my first impression was that, gosh, maybe the [00:09:20] sprayer ended up putting some a different maybe herbicide instead of the proper mix. And that's why [00:09:30] he got killed. But I didn't realize until I pull out one of the plants that the ones that were dead, that was the peat moss mix [00:09:40] and the ones that they were alive. It was the Coco mix. And is that too cold? Because it was actually, I think what it saves the plants are [00:09:50] the water retention and the coconut husk. It really well combination of more water retention, but also the [00:10:00] husk or the coconut substrate is like an insulation. So from that day on I was completely sold out [00:10:10] on the coconut business. You know, I've been [00:10:20] in this business since 94, and I still think there's so much more to learn about this wonderful product. I mean, I think we [00:10:30] just know the surface of the benefits.
Kirti : [00:10:34] So what exactly if somebody is listening? What exactly is the product? Where does it come from? [00:10:40]
Frank : [00:10:40] Well, see, like the beauty of this product and it's like a waste [00:10:50] product from the coconut fruit. So like the husk, the coconut tree, after you dehusked the the fruit. [00:11:00] Yes. That product in the old days, they used to burn it or they used to use as a probably energy perhaps and [00:11:10] but it wasn't that utilized properly because I mean some of the people in my hometown in Colima, they [00:11:20] use it to make the or burn the bricks. So when they make the bricks, they use the coconut husk. But [00:11:30] the advantage, or at least the things that I know now about the coconut husk, besides the water retention and [00:11:40] the controlled temperature, there are so many other good elements into it. Like I've been involved with universities, [00:11:50] try to learn more about the coconut husk and one of the things that I noticed or they discover that the [00:12:00] coconut husk has like a fungal activity that is called aspergillus terreus, which inhibits a lot of the root disease. So [00:12:10] if you see any plant growing in the coconut product, you're going to see the whitest root system that you ever seen. I mean, it's beautiful, [00:12:20] it's healthy. And maybe because of that reason recently, one of the professors, [00:12:30] the people is really involved into the microbial activity in the soil and all that. He sent my product to a [00:12:40] lab to test if it had any micro and apparently has a few of those mycorrhizas within the that [00:12:50] generates within a natural way that it also helps obviously the plant growth. So and I guarantee you there are so many [00:13:00] other things that we don't know yet. Yeah. Whether it's from Peru, Chile, Guatemala, Mexico and even here like an Oxnard [00:13:10] area, a lot of the blueberry raspberry, strawberry, tomato, cucumbers, they've been using [00:13:20] 100% the cocoa to grow hydroponically. And so saving a lot of fertilizers. So you [00:13:30] you use a lot less fertilizer, you use less water. So bottom line, you end up getting more for less.
Kirti : [00:13:38] But can it be used across [00:13:40] other everybody? Right. Looks like anybody.
Frank : [00:13:43] Can use like we have one customer testing in a big pot avocado [00:13:50] tree. Oh, okay. Yeah. I probably will send you a photo because I mean, it's amazing that this short avocado tree loaded with avocados. [00:14:00] Yeah.
Kirti : [00:14:01] So how much of that is are people using this then, or people are educated? I mean, this I mean, when you talk about this, right? I mean, it's [00:14:10] sustainable. Less water, less fertilizer and all the other benefits, the less of tillage of the ground. Right. The soil that is needed, all that goes [00:14:20] away with the.
Frank : [00:14:20] Exactly. Exactly. I mean, in 1994, when I started this business, I think it was only two of us doing this one. [00:14:30] I think the company name was Millennium, which I think it was from India and my company. And [00:14:40] we were the only two in a trade show in Ohio. Columbus, Ohio is supposed to be one of the biggest nursery industry [00:14:50] trade shows. It's like the Mecca of the nursery industry, right? And back then it was only two of us. Now everybody was getting to be involved. [00:15:00] Yeah. Back in those days, if you ask, let's say a thousand people, maybe one knew about the quarter and [00:15:10] now you ask probably ten people and probably nine knows about the product. So it is making progress and.
Kirti : [00:15:18] Net usage has also gone [00:15:20] up in the last couple of years, Right? Because from healthfood standpoint, coconut water, coconut, everything, everything.
Frank : [00:15:28] Yeah. And I mean, like [00:15:30] I remember when I was introducing my coconut fruit, the first company that really got [00:15:40] interested in my program was Frieda's. Yeah. And I remember they got really excited because I came up with this coconut [00:15:50] fruit that I removed the hard shell, peel all the skin and put it in a vacuum seal. So it looks like a like [00:16:00] a white ball that all you do just kind of push through the meat with a straw or something. A strong straw. Yeah. Then [00:16:10] you can drink the water. And when you finish, you can cut down the meat and, you know, eat it as a snack. Actually, I think that was in 2001 before, [00:16:20] you know, like this Madonna and all these other people started promoting the water. Yeah, I think the culture changed [00:16:30] a lot in the States and the good old days, the only coconut was available in the stores was the ones from Dominican Republic. And that was [00:16:40] a really dark, mature coconut. And right now, I mean, every store you go, you're going to find the junk coconut, you're going to find the brown, you're going to find every [00:16:50] possible mix of coconut. So that's great. That's a great great.
Kirti : [00:16:55] Because when I used to go to India, that was my thing to do, right? I always had coconut [00:17:00] water because we didn't find it here. And now you find it all over. All over the place. All over the place.
Frank : [00:17:05] Yeah. Yeah. So that's the beauty. And, you know, in Mexico, culture [00:17:10] is changing, too. We have a program. I mean, right now we have one big facility where we do all [00:17:20] the coconut fruit processing and that one is in Colima. But also we have four facilities that do the grinding of the husk, [00:17:30] but also at the same time in the state of Guerrero, we have a place where we propagate the coconut plants [00:17:40] and donate it to the farmers to refurbish their farms, because I mean, a lot of the palm [00:17:50] trees are pretty old, maybe 70, 80 years old, right? So now the beauty that I when I travel the West Coast side, like from [00:18:00] Colima all the way down to Oaxaca, there's a lot of new coconut tree plantations. And I feel good because I feel that we were [00:18:10] this.
Kirti : [00:18:11] You started the Pioneers.
Frank : [00:18:12] We were the pioneers in this revolution.
Kirti : [00:18:16] It's like you're what you were saying earlier. It helps water. It helps [00:18:20] the different things that you don't even know. I'm sure by what you started as being a pioneer, even for the Guerrero, right? [00:18:30] That's the place you're from, actually. It must have been from an economy, from helping people in that neighborhood or the cities. You've had indirect impact in very [00:18:40] different ways.
Frank : [00:18:40] Looks like, Oh yeah, it's amazing. And I mean, I feel so good when I listen to the people like [00:18:50] in the communities, especially in Guerrero. Guerrero is one of the communities that unfortunately all this time they were [00:19:00] like that. The handouts. In other words, they were depending on the government to support them. So the state of Guerrero, one of my partners, described [00:19:10] the state of Guerrero as the two legged table. One leg was the tourism and the other leg was the government. [00:19:20] So that's that was the only two incomes, so to speak, for the state of Guerrero. Yeah. Now we build [00:19:30] a third leg onto this table that is more stable, right? Because I mean, just in our group, we [00:19:40] probably hired a direct, maybe 250 employees, but indirect. I mean, all the people that is collecting [00:19:50] the husk, all the trucking companies you can see in the communities now, they're building houses. They [00:20:00] I mean, it looks better. The economy that is getting into that. Communities are very, very good. [00:20:10] I remember one day when I was visiting one of our facilities in Guerrero, one of these guys came to me and. He was one [00:20:20] of the people that used to bring the raw material, the husk, into our facility. Our facility is like a recycling center that, you [00:20:30] know, you have all these little trucks coming in with husks and you pay them by the cubic meter. And so this guy was saying, Frank, I used to [00:20:40] go to the US. I have to pay the coyote so much money. I have [00:20:50] to endure living with 8 or 12 people in a little tiny garage room. And now. And I was away from my family. Now [00:21:00] I'm making more money here and I'm with my family. So, I mean, that kind of made me realize that the effect [00:21:10] that, you know, us a little company it made in a family that all of a sudden the nucleus of the family stayed [00:21:20] together. The economy is good. They are happy.
Kirti : [00:21:23] So they don't have. Yeah, that that is very fulfilling.
Frank : [00:21:27] That's that's. That was a great feeling.
Kirti : [00:21:29] Yeah. Yeah. Do [00:21:30] you just not just helping the soil, but you're helping the community. I know earlier [00:21:40] we were talking about this new thing that you're working on called Uncle Frank's. Can you talk a little bit about that?
Frank : [00:21:46] Sure. Actually, I [00:21:50] have a couple young partners. I mean, they are in the industry also, but they are young kids. [00:22:00] I think one is like a 36 and the other one is 38. And they are in the marketing world [00:22:10] as well as selling some of the agriculture products. And so they approached me and said, and I guess they [00:22:20] were looking at me from a distance and seen my work. So they approached me and came [00:22:30] up with this idea that they want to be part of my business. And they did a sketch of my [00:22:40] ugly face and handsome.
Kirti : [00:22:44] Face.
Frank : [00:22:45] Then presented to me as, okay, we want to do a [00:22:50] like an added value product with the coconut based product and we want to call it Uncle Frank. So at the beginning, I [00:23:00] was kind of I mean, I laugh at the picture, but, you know, I started kind of realizing that it really makes sense to make this [00:23:10] other step like what I did with the fruit. Now I can do the mixes, which is going to be the basic four different [00:23:20] mixes. Uncle Frank label, so to speak, one is going to be 100% Coco that can be used for basically [00:23:30] all purposes, including like for if you have any kind of spill of gasoline [00:23:40] or any hydrocarbon based product. The best absorbent for that is Coco. [00:23:50] So I mean, they can use for that. They can use it for growing any kind of plant, including cannabis. It's very popular in the cannabis industry. They use the 100% [00:24:00] Coco too, and we're going to have another mixes. But every mix that we're going to be making is going to be based in two things. [00:24:10] One, that is going to give a very good results to the end user. And two, that is going to be a regenerative environmentally [00:24:20] friendly and it's going to be loaded with a lot of microbial activity. So, I mean, it's going to be a fair price, but [00:24:30] high quality because I want to make sure that if they're going to call it Uncle Frank, I make sure that the results are going to be good. Otherwise, [00:24:40] I don't want to get involved in that. But I'm my son got really, really good at making good [00:24:50] mixes. So he's going to be in charge of the mixes and the quality and what's going in and also been involved with [00:25:00] some of the PhD people that knows all about the microbial [00:25:10] activity. So we want to we want to get into this business but the right way. And actually, [00:25:20] one of the I don't know if you ever watched that movie Kiss the Ground.
Kirti : [00:25:25] No, I did not.
Frank : [00:25:26] Okay. It [00:25:30] is I mean, the kiss the ground is a good way to probably tell the people, hey, we can do a better job. And [00:25:40] growing plants or, you know, produce fruit and vegetables without tilting and all that. But I should go check it out. Anyway, [00:25:50] one of the producers approached me and we are kind of right now nice working on the possibility of doing some mixes for them too, but. [00:26:00] Okay. But the Uncle Frank is is a done deal. It's going to go forward in the next few weeks. You may see my ugly face [00:26:10] and maybe Home Depot or Home Depot. Okay.
Kirti : [00:26:14] So so people listening to this, if you see Uncle Frank's, then you know who that is at Home Depot, [00:26:20] right? Coming coming soon to the Home Depot next to you. Frank, I've known you for so many years, and I. [00:26:30] This is amazing, right? How you intentionally and unintentionally impacted so many different [00:26:40] aspects of people and the environment and the soil. Now, going back to the comment when I was saying. Right, even the [00:26:50] reason I when when I came into United AG and like I said, I kind of at first you feel like an outsider, you feel different and you always, always [00:27:00] made me feel comfortable. And it always I seek you out at events and stuff and made sure I was sitting next to you because that's how you made everybody feel. [00:27:10] I'm sure that carries through, right? And looks like you are a business person. You are an entrepreneur. You want to you've, you've [00:27:20] always done that. But deep down you have a awesome soul.
Frank : [00:27:24] The way we grew up and were taught by my parents was [00:27:30] that you always have to respect.
Speaker3: [00:27:33] Uh.
Frank : [00:27:34] The people. Yeah. And I don't care whether. If you're. Um, [00:27:40] businessman or your regular worker if you treat the people. With respect, are [00:27:50] you going to receive the same thing back? I'm not the only one producing corps in Mexico. Yeah, but I think I'm the one [00:28:00] that most of the people come to. And perhaps it's because we treat everybody the same way. Whether, [00:28:10] you know, you buy one bell or you buy 100 truckloads. To me, it's the same as a human being, as a person that you're dealing with. And [00:28:20] and that's that's the way I am.
Kirti : [00:28:22] Yeah, that's as because through United I'm also testing out or finding out my experimentation [00:28:30] with United Aggies if you are the people person if you're a relationship person does that help from a business standpoint, right? So [00:28:40] you are a business person and you but you're, you started with the people side of it and look at where you are today. And that's the same thing earlier [00:28:50] we were talking about where we have grown from United AG and where we are today is very much very similar because you don't start off, you start off with doing the right thing and it leads [00:29:00] us to the success, right?
Frank : [00:29:02] Well, look what you've done and what, eight years since you took over. Yeah, it's amazing the difference. [00:29:10] And everything has to do with the leadership. The way that you're dealing with people, the way you focus your goals [00:29:20] and how you work with the people, because yourself, you will never going to be able to achieve the things [00:29:30] that you have achieved with the group of people because your leadership. And I think that's that goes the same in every every step [00:29:40] of the journey or your life, whether it's family, whether it's business, whether it's friends. [00:29:50] I think it's the same same thing. I mean, you can be a. A mean person and you end up not being that great. [00:30:00] Or you can be a human being and treat everybody good. And I think that's a great for feelings.
Kirti : [00:30:07] Yeah, I mean, for you to say that, Frank, [00:30:10] it makes me a little emotional because I looked up to you and you've seen me through all my struggles and you've seen me. So thank you for saying what you said. Thank you so much, [00:30:20] Frank, for coming down. And this is this is awesome. It's always a lot of fun sitting down with you. And actually, some people are like, [00:30:30] Man, every time your name comes up, it's your the cigar, the guy with the cigar, right? So usually at our events and stuff, Frank is always surrounded by people and [00:30:40] he is an amazing, amazing soul. So thank you for being part of United. Thank you for coming down and thank you for being a friend.
Frank : [00:30:48] Well, thank you. And [00:30:50] really, really congratulations for the job that you've done so far.
Kirti : [00:30:55] Thank you. Thanks. That's me. That means a lot, Frank.
Frank : [00:30:57] Thank you. Thank you for inviting. Thank you. [00:31:00]