A conversation with Bob Harrington, co-founder of Specialty Produce, is not only a crash course in fruits and veggies. It’s also an opportunity to learn about life. Harrington is a big thinker with a philosophical bent, which he brings to San Diego’s favorite food supplier.
He’s also a born-and-raised local who, along with his co-founder brother, has helped build San Diego’s food scene and watched it grow, meander, and become what it is today.
Harrington attended California State University, Northridge but dropped out after one semester. In 1973, he tinkered around with a fresh produce delivery service, the genesis of today’s Specialty Produce. It shuttered after just six weeks and many angry customers, but he learned a lot from the experience.
He began working at the grocer Alpha Beta. He transferred to the Clairemont store in 1974, landing back in San Diego, and was fired two years later. Jobless but armed with knowledge from his time at the grocery chain, he sold his house and opened a small market in 1977. Dead broke, he also moved into the storefront and lived there until 1979. Things finally began to click, and he eventually secured a house again before selling his shop in 1988.
Finally, in 1989, Harrington founded Specialty Produce, a beloved San Diego agricultural institution that remains a favorite of locals today. It’s been through soaring highs and some searing lows—in just one month in 2002, for example, Harrington accrued $10,000 in back check charges from Bank of America. He unintentionally bounced 110 checks in a single day, which he considers the lowest point of the business. Considering it’s 2024 now and there’s hardly a restaurant in town without a Specialty Produce truck parked out front, it’s safe to say the tide turned for the Harrington brothers and their band of merry produce pranksters.
About the Specialty Produce crew: It’s a much bigger operation than many know. The store has become a hub for the freshest and most vibrant fruits and vegetables from around the planet, with a focus on esoteric varieties not easily found in other shops. In addition to all of the operational folks who keep things running, Harrington also employs a data and media wing of the company, sending folks all over the world to investigate and locate new or rare fruits and vegetables. They bring that produce home to study and share with the world via Specialty’s distribution networks, as well as its in-house content studio.
There’s almost too much to detail in this episode, and it’s always a delight to be in the company of one of San Diego’s most interesting brains (that’s Harrington). But we also talked about the news in this episode: Grain & Grit Collective will launch Basta! in Little Italy with Sam the Cooking Guy, 117 West Spirits will open a tasting room at CoLab Public House in Vista, Hideaway Pacific Beach arrives near Crystal Pier, Randy’s Donuts is unveiling its second area location in Bonita, Scottdale’s Wine Girl is coming to the Gaslamp, and Cellar Hand will soon open in Hillcrest in conjunction with Pali Wine.
