Gone to (produce) market

A little white fruit stand along the side of Highway 25 has been upgraded.
Market 25, a small open building filled with local fresh produce, officially opened July 3 after having undergone construction since spring 2012. A grand opening event that will include cooking demonstrations and free food will take place this Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Market 25 is about a five minute drive from downtown Gilroy.
“We will be giving away barbecued tri-tip sandwiches with sautéed onions and all kinds of fruit,” said 25-year-old Doug Rodrigues, one of the market’s three owners. “We’re also trying to get a mariachi band booked.”
Rodrigues co-owns the stand with father/son Joe and Peter Aiello, owners of Uesugi Farms, Inc. in Gilroy (Uesugi also operates the Pumpkin Park wonderland that opens up seasonally in San Martin). Rodrigues and Joe have known each other since the first grade, both having grown up in farming families in the Sunnyvale area. Rodrigues also owns one strawberry stand in Morgan Hill and one in Saratoga.
The idea for Market 25 stemmed from Rodrigues, who wanted to broaden his entrepreneurial horizons and offer a wider variety of goods from nearby growers.
“Now we can sell as much local fresh produce as possible,” Rodrigues said. “I get fruit from Andy Mariani of Andy’s Orchard in Morgan Hill and from Luie Bonino of LJB Farms in San Martin.”
Strawberries are currently the star product at Market 25. For an undetermined amount of time, a pint of them are being handed out for free to each customer who comes in to look around.
“Our strawberries are coming right off the property. They’re hand-picked early every morning and have very little bruising,” Rodrigues said. “They’re going straight to the point of sale.”
In addition to strawberries, chili peppers, tomatoes, Napa cabbage, apples, bananas, pineapples and more are in abundance at Market 25. There is even a 12-acre field of corn directly behind the store.
Rodrigues said he wanted to keep things in the community – not only in terms of the produce, but also in terms of who constructed the building. Market 25 was built by all local contractors, including Hollister General Contractor Sam Espeseth.
Market 25 is currently open seven days a week from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and might extend its hours to 7 p.m., depending on demand. Phone-in ordering is available but not delivery. The market’s website, www.market25produce.com is near completion and once it is up and running, online ordering will be available.
Acknowledging that people will be tired after they get off work at 5 p.m. and won’t have too much time to spend ordering their fruit, Rodrigues said that ordering online or on the phone ahead of time will lessen the hassle for them.
“Customers will be able to pick up what they ordered online or on the phone at the end of their drive home from work,” Rodrigues said. “They will be in and out in five minutes.”