Thank You, City Fresh Fruit — What YUZU GROUP Learned from Thailand’s Premium Fruit Importer
The YUZU GROUP executive team visited City Fresh Fruit Co., Ltd., Thailand’s premium fruit importer and winner of the Asia Fruit Award for Importer of the Year 2025.
At YUZU GROUP, we believe great food begins long before the kitchen. It begins with the ingredient — and with the people who care for it before it ever reaches us.
Today our executive team visited City Fresh Fruit Co., Ltd., hosted personally by Khun Wongsakorn Chatamornwong, Deputy Chief Executive Officer, who guided us through the entire visit.
Who is City Fresh?
City Fresh is a family business founded in 1989 — more than 35 years in Thailand’s imported fruit industry, now led by the second generation: three siblings. Their journey mirrors the story of modern Thai retail itself:
- The early years (B2B) — supplying leading modern-trade retailers including Gourmet Market, Lotus’s, Big C, Makro and Tops, plus wholesale markets such as Talad Thai.
- 2015 (B2C) — moving online to speak directly to consumers.
- Today (Community) — a rebrand under the tagline “Community of Fruit Lovers”, with their own stores on Pridi Banomyong 26, at CentralWorld and at Siam Paragon.
City Fresh distributes world-class fruit brands including ZESPRI, Pink Lady, OZblu and Dole, with particular expertise in kiwifruit, avocado, blueberry and persimmon.
A milestone: Asia Fruit Award — Importer of the Year 2025
In September 2025, City Fresh received the Asia Fruit Award for Importer of the Year at Asia Fruit Logistica, Asia’s most important fresh produce platform, with Khun Wongsakorn accepting on behalf of the company. The award reflects their shift from traditional importer to consumer-driven fruit company, and their investment in food safety and traceability — exactly the standard a restaurant group wants from a supplier.
Three lessons we took home
- Fruit quality is temperature control. Most imported fruit is temperate fruit, so the real work is holding a stable temperature from port, through the cold room, all the way to the customer. Walking through their cold storage made that lesson physical.
- “Good” means “on spec.” Not always the most premium grade, but exactly the agreed specification, every lot, every time. Consistency is precisely what a multi-brand restaurant group needs.
- Good food businesses are built on long relationships. Fruit is agriculture — there are strong harvests and difficult ones. Partners who think long term and communicate honestly carry both sides through every season.
What comes next
YUZU GROUP operates more than ten restaurant brands, so quality fruit appears on our menus almost every day. This visit opened up collaboration possibilities we are genuinely excited about: premium fruit sourcing and joint seasonal menu development.
Our sincere thanks to Khun Wongsakorn Chatamornwong and the entire City Fresh Fruit team for the warm welcome and the knowledge shared so openly. We hope this is the beginning of a long and meaningful partnership between our two companies.
“Great food starts with great ingredients — and great ingredients start with people who genuinely care.”
