After moving to New York City, Danny Trejo started a business so that he could legitimately maintain ties to his origin. Trejo missed a little piece of home, the citrus of Central Florida. In 2020, he began cultivating citrus at home, which he continues to do in addition to his day job as an insurance agent. Via Citrus has bought extra land for new greenhouses and is already making about $36,000 a month.
Soon after coming in New York City, Danny got inspired to work on Via orange, recalling the orange orchards of Central Florida. Growing up, he was surrounded by the sights and scents of orange blossoms on a sizable citrus nursery. He will always cherish that special occasion.
Danny always wanted to work in the citrus nursery business, but he also wanted to find another way to make a difference that would benefit the firm and mean something to him personally. His need for the solace of orange flowers and his sense of estrangement from his roots gave rise to the idea of sharing this little area of his house with others. That’s when he thought he could teach people how to plant citrus plants anywhere in the world by opening an online store.
Regarding the challenges, he said, “At first, setting up an e-commerce platform was a difficult undertaking for me.”
Danny had no experience with websites, so he had to start from scratch and learn everything there was to know about online commerce, from development to design.
At the same time, he got to work on the important task of establishing our product line. There is such a vast assortment of citrus fruits, such as oranges, lemons, limes, tangerines, and grapefruits, that he had to decide which kind to offer. To select a citrus variety that would appeal to a broad spectrum of consumers, it was necessary to examine the growth patterns and unique selling points of each type. It was also crucial to ascertain the size of the plants that Via Citrus would supply. This was a decision that needed to be carefully thought through.
On the one hand, providing too-small plants could irritate buyers who might not immediately recognize the entire beauty or potential of what they have paid for. Larger plants would be more aesthetically beautiful and closer to bearing fruit, but they would also be more expensive to ship and less accessible to a wider market. The phases at which citrus trees grow, shipping restrictions, and customer expectations had to be carefully considered in order to determine which sizes offered the best value for both customers and the business.
In the initial months, Via Citrus raised less than $1,000 every month, and he is grateful to his family and friends for their support. But before long, May (Mother’s Day) and December (Christmas) were his busiest months, when he was earning an average of about $7,000. Via Citrus generates $36,000 in monthly revenue. May and December continue to be our greatest sales months.
He maintains a connection to his heritage by working on this project with his father. His childhood in the citrus sector, where his father dedicated more than 40 years of his life, has had a significant impact on his enthusiasm for the cultivation and upkeep of citrus.
Danny is able to maintain and strengthen this relationship even though he lives six hours away from the farm now that he is the face of Via Citrus. Citrus serves as a vital link between his father and his continuous endeavors. Not only is he the farmer, but he also selects and packages each citrus plant that we ship to the customers. His hands-on approach ensures that the family’s enthusiasm and dedication to citrus growing is ingrained in every plant he offers.
