Southwest Traders History

It all begun as a summer job in 1976 working at his brother’s company, Cheesecake Unlimited, now known as Nemo’s Bakery. In 1977, Ken returned to California from his college in Louisiana with an old converted van, a list of customers, and hopes of success.

Initially, he went door-to-door distributing fresh juice, smoothies, and health food items to health food concepts in Southern Orange and San Diego Counties. The hours were long and the work was hard, but Ken applied what he had learned from sports in order to be successful.

Over the years, as his customer base grew, he added employees. Eventually, he was able to open his own warehouse in Escondido, California; as a result, he was able to service all of Southern California. In 1988, Southwest Traders moved its warehouse to Temecula, California in an effort to centralize the company between San Diego and Los Angeles.

Today, Southwest Traders covers 17 states on the west coast and operates out of six facilities throughout the southwest region. We are excited to announce that we will be opening a new facility in Fresno, California that is scheduled to open in August, 2009. With the largest one-stop shop specializing in frozen distribution in the world, the company’s customer base has grown to include customers such as Baskin Robbins, Starbuck’s, and Jamba Juice, just to name a few.

Southwest Traders is committed to be the leader in this niche market.