Family Behind Rochester Fruits Talks Roots

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Rochester Fruits, the popular fruit stand on Highway 12, started when Domingo Zamudio told his oldest son to sell oranges from a bin on the side of the road.

“We started with the one bin of oranges,” said Domingo Zamudio Quezada, Jr. “That led to another, to another, to another. Then we got the hang of it and we’re like ‘okay, let’s bring in more stuff.’ That’s how we got the fruit stand going.”

That was six years ago. Today, Rochester Fruits supplies produce for five grocery stores and 25 restaurants from Centralia to Steilacoom. 

“We have some good friends that have a chain of grocery stores, so they gave us a couple ideas,” Zamudio Quezada said. “Then I was like ‘you know what, I think we got something here.’”

Zamudio started the family-run business, but his eldest son has taken on some of the responsibility over the years. His younger son Ricardo Zamudio Quezada, wife Maria Zamudio Quezada, and their daughter’s two sons also work at the stand.

“I like this kind of business,” Zamudio said. “The most important (thing) for me is my kids. I’m proud of those kids to want to keep going, because I don’t think I can do it myself. So those kids do a pretty good job, too. The good thing (about our business) is being friendly with the customers. This is where it started. Sometimes the kids push me now too much, but I have to keep going. But it’s good — I’m proud of my kids.”

Zamudio runs his own farm and also works with growers to bring in produce. The family has had its own farm for four years, where they grow produce such as tomatoes, jalapenos and squash.

The stand currently buys about 25 to 30 percent of its produce from Yakima, but when the season picks up in another month, that figure will jump to more like 80 or 90 percent.

“We buy as local as we can,” Zamudio Quezada said. “That’s our whole game plan is to stay local, help the community out, help the local farmer. But there are times where you can’t get cherries from Washington, so you have to go find other places in other states.”



Rochester Fruits buys produce from all down the west coast and into Mexico when they can’t buy locally. 

Currently, the business is bringing in asparagus from Yakima, bananas from Guatemala and avocados from Mexico.

Although the stand buys remotely in the offseason, Zamudio Quezada believes its their hometown roots that keep customers coming back.

“It also helps when you’re the hometown kid of Rochester,” Zamudio Quezada said. “We all grew up here, me and my brother and my sister. So we have teachers that come in here, coaches, and I can’t thank them enough because they have always helped us in every way. I thank Rochester a lot and the local communities around it.”

Ricardo Zamudio Quezada has worked at the stand for four years now. He and his brother are training their sister’s sons to run the stand, too.

“He has sacrificed a lot for us,” Ricardo said, of his father. “He worked for a farm for so long, left and came over here and wanted better for us than what he had. He tells us every day that he always wants better for us than what he had, and to take that into our head for our future, too. We want to take it generation, after generation, after generation and teach that motto.”

He continued, “If we didn’t have one another, I don’t think we would be able to do it. It’s a team at the end of the day. We’re family. We stick together. We support each other. If one of us is having a bad day, we pick each other back up.”

Rochester Fruits is located on Highway 12, roughly 5 miles west of Interstate 5.