Southern Belle Organics is the brain child of Brick and Jennifer Rooks, two first generation farmers in North Carolina. The Rooks’ started this operation from a love for blueberries, in the hopes of providing the freshest organically grown fruits for their local community.
Under the label of Southern Belle Organics, the operation has expanded to become not only the areas premium berry grower, but also a Top-Quality processor of fresh and frozen strawberries, blackberries, and blueberries. The enterprise has grown so large that growers and farmers in surrounding states are shipping their berries to Southern Belle Organics’ facility in Bladenboro, NC to have them quick frozen and federally inspected using the high tech IQF (individual quick freeze) processes developed by Southern Belle Organics, before they are shipped all over the USA.
The IQF facility was built in 2016 using state-of-the-art equipment, allowing Southern Belle Organics to increase productivity, and expand the fresh packaging and co-packing arm of the business to a much larger scale. They can also individually quick freeze 60 pounds of blueberries every 6 minutes. “We are processing top grade, sustainable fruits for local wholesale, retail, and food service markets, as well as global markets.” said Brick Rooks. “The IQF facility is used for the Southern Belle Organics label as well as other conventional and organically grown product lines.”
Southern Belle Organics offers various Fresh Pack sizes for both organically and conventionally grown product lines, like 6 ounce and pint size clam shell cartons of the biggest freshest berries you’ve ever seen.
The IQF facility packages products in 30-pound boxes as well as various stand-up pouches and lay-flat bags for retail stores. The facility has grown to 25,000 square feet with Primus GFS HAACP, Refrigerated space, Freezer space, Blast Coolers, and of course, the IQF tunnel.
Southern Belle Organics devotes 183 acres to the production of Organically Grown Blueberries, and another 200 acres to Organic Farmland for the production of various vegetables. Conventionally grown blueberries are marketed under the Simply Fruit label, where the motto is, The freshest name in fruit. To transport all this delicious fruit to markets across the land, the company also has its own transportation fleet known as Berry Express, LLC, using refrigerated trucks to protect the valuable cargo.
The future is looking very bright for the Rooks’ and the next planned expansion will include 10 acres of High Tunnels (Blues) for April production, an additional 100 acres of Organic Blueberries, and a Specialty Pack/Fresh Cut operation for locally grown produce from other farms. The new facility will be able to produce bagged products, fruit cups, lidded applications, and shrink-wrapped products, keeping up with the demand to feed America.
Southern Belle Organics is always open to trying or growing new things. Feel free to contact us anytime, by phone at 910 231-5316 or by email at brickrooks@gmail.com. Thank you for visiting our website.
Southern Belle Organics 