Grit and hard work from four generations of Wishnatzki's turned a pushcart business into a multinational corporation.
Success is a sweet fruit of hard work and sacrifice. For Wish Farms, its success IS fruit…berries, that is.
The international grower and year-round marketer of strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries and pineberries celebrated its 100th anniversary not with fanfare and applause but with a $10,000 charitable give-back campaign last month called “Pick-A-Berry, Pick-A-Cause.” The beneficiaries included causes that align with Wish Farms Family Foundation’s three pillars of giving (food insecurity, youth education and community) and included Meals on Wheels of Tampa, The American Heart Association and The Florida Future Farmer’s of America Foundation.
Continuing with its mission to give back, a theme ingrained in its company culture, Wish Farms is also hosting PixieRock, its official 100-year milestone party on Sat., Nov. 12. Artists ZZ Top, Bishop Briggs, Saint Motel and Blanco Brown will perform live at the Wish Farms headquarters. Wish Farms funds the event and all proceeds from ticket sales and sponsorships benefit the Wish Farms Family Foundation and other charities.
“PixieRock takes half the year to plan but it’s worth it,” said public relations manager Nick Wishnatzki. “It helps fund our family foundation so we can support charitable causes throughout the year.”
Wish Farms traces its roots back to 19-year-old Harris Wishnatzki, who emigrated from Ukraine to the United States in 1904. Arriving at Ellis Island with little but a strong work ethic, he began selling fruits and vegetables from a pushcart on the streets of New York.
In 1922, his operations grew to a fleet of pushcarts after he teamed up with fellow pushcart peddler Daniel Nathel. The pair established Wishnatzki and Nathel, a wholesale business selling fruits and vegetables from the Washington Market in lower Manhattan. He was one of the country’s earliest snowbirds, traveling to Florida in the winter months to be closer to production and the auction market.
He established a commercial operation in Plant City and eventually moved to Lakeland in 1937 to escape New York’s frigid winters.
In 1936 his sons Joe and Lester got involved in the family business. The family patriarch passed away in 1955, leaving the company’s future in the hands of the second generation of Wishnatzki’s.
Joe’s son Gary (Nick’s father) began working for the company in 1974. His long list of accomplishments during his almost 50 years in the business include establishing G&D Farms in 1987, named for company founders Gershon Harris Wishnatzki and Daniel Nathel which has become the largest strawberry farm in the United States. Under Gary’s leadership, the company added blueberries, raspberries, blackberries and pineberries to its portfolio. It became the first grower in Florida to offer organic strawberries on a commercial sale. He established startup Harvest CROO Robotics to solve the global farm labor shortage through automation. In 2019, he began construction on its new headquarters south of I-4. His wife Therese works with the foundation’s charitable efforts and wrote Misty the Garden Pixie (more on that later.)
Nick Wishnatzki considers his father a patient and understanding leader who’s a great listener. “He jokingly calls himself a benevolent dictator and honestly he’s an easy man to work for,” he said.
In 2001 the Wishnatzki and Nathel families agreed to split the company with the Nathels retaining the New York wholesale business and the Wishnatzki family keeping the Florida growing and shipping operation. They renamed the company Wishnatzki Farms.
The name was still a mouthful. In 2009, Gary commissioned a survey to determine if customers recognized his brand in grocery stores. The results were berry alarming and became the catalyst to rebrand the business. Out of 400 people surveyed, only one person could name the brand unaided and they misspelled it.
The following year they took the moniker Wish Farms and created its mascot Misty the Garden Pixie, who lives in the Land of Berry Plants and with a wave of her wand berry plants flourish and her pixie dust has the power to make berries sweet.
Don’t be fooled though. It’s not pixie dust that gets the juicy berries to market but a staff of hundres of workers across North and South America working hard to pick the berries, which start dying as soon as they’re removed from the vines, to get into the hands of consumers.
“We have a very dedicated operations and sales team that have to make split-second decisions on where product is going all while maintaining a cold chain to keep the berries preserved,” said Nick.
He said the company couldn’t succeed without its dedicated employees. “We value and respect each and every one of them, whether they’re working on the farm or in the office,” he said.
The fourth-generation of Wishnatzki’s are actively involved in the business. Gary’s son Nick and husband Stephen Cramer joined the business in 2017 in Public Relations and Accounting, respectively. Gary’s daughter Elizabeth works with the company’s marketing team while raising the fifth generation (Will and Joey) and her husband James currently serves as Vice President of Sales and Marketing.
Even though the family gets lots of face-time with each other while at work, the close-knit group also spends plenty of time together at family dinners and on vacations. Does the topic of berries ever enter the conversation? Yep. “Inevitably it always comes up because we’re all so passionate about our work,” said Wishnatzki. “It’s a part of our DNA.”
The fourth-generation of Wishnatzki’s seem to have the same zealous energy for the business as the first. What would its founder say about today’s thriving company?
“I don’t think my great-grandfather could have ever imagined what his small pushcart business would become,” said Wishnazki. This year Wish Farms will ship a staggering 100 million pounds of strawberries, 35 million pounds of blueberries and seven million pounds each of raspberries and blackberries.
Where does Wishnatzki see the company in another hundred years? “We’re standing on the shoulders of giants,” he said. “My great-grandfather was a kind and compassionate man and he set the groundwork for what we’ve become,” he said. “As long as we stay true to our values and guiding principles we’ll continue to flourish and grow.”
For more information about Wish Farms visit www.wishfarms.com. For more information about PixieRock visit www.pixierock.org.
