Titan Frozen Fruit, a Santa Maria, California-based fruit processor and value-added food ingredients manufacturer, has named Tom Byrne president and chief executive officer. He succeeds previous CEO Jon Larsen, who will now serve as the company’s chairman. Titan is a portfolio company of Vestar Capital Partners.
“We’ve been impressed with Tom’s leadership and the meaningful impact he’s made during his two years at the company,” said Dan O’Connell, founder and chief executive officer of Vestar. “He’s just the right person to lead Titan at this stage of its growth and development and we look forward to our ongoing partnership. We would also like to thank Jon for his long-time leadership at Titan, and we’re excited that he will continue as chairman and a major shareholder going forward.”
With a deep background in the fresh/frozen food manufacturing and packaging industries, Byrne has 30 years of experience leading transformational change across organizations. Prior to joining Titan in 2023, he served as a senior vice president and division manager at Golden West Packaging Group, was president of Growers Express, and held senior executive roles at Sambrailo Packaging and Peninsula Packaging.
“Titan has a world-class team, and I’m honored to lead the company as we execute on our strategic plans,” said Byrne. “With our new 136,500 square foot state-of-the-art processing facility and a commitment to delivering the highest quality products to customers, Titan is well positioned to take advantage of new opportunities.”
About Titan Frozen Fruit
Founded in 2013, Titan buys berries from a network of large commercial growers in California and Baja California and processes the fruit into a variety of pack styles (aseptic and pasteurized purées, purée concentrate, thermal particulate, individual quick frozen and block quick frozen). It sells the processed berries to a diversified roster of food and beverage manufacturers, foodservice/QSRs and retail/club stores.
