About Us
Cut Fruit Express (CFE) is a quality cut fruits and vegetables processor based in Inver Grove Heights, Minnesota, and led by company President Lawford Baxter. Servicing the needs of retail and wholesale customers throughout the Midwest, Cut Fruit Express’s full product range arrives at customer facilities fresh and rinsed, pre-trimmed, and cut to order. The firm’s state-of-the-art processing plant ensures food safety, with all products processed under comprehensive Hazard Analysis & Critical Control Point protocol.
Lawford Baxter and the CFE team strive for high-quality cut fruits, performing visual inspection to confirm that they meet strict standards of appearance and color. Subsequent analysis confirms premium sweetness and texture. All selected fruits maintain a sugar content between 10 and 13 percent.
A seamless cold chain spanning receiving, processing, storage, and delivery stages ensures that Cut Fruit Express products arrive with just-harvested freshness. Succulent fruits susceptible to damage and bruising are packed in rigid containers directly after cutting, eliminating the possibility of mechanical injury. Fruits currently offered include strawberries, cantaloupe, pineapple, red and green grapes, honeydew, and watermelon.
CFE also maintains extensive potato and onion processing facilities, frequently incorporating the products into specialty mixes such as salsa, fajita mix, and pot roast mix. Also available are onion rings, hand-peeled potatoes for restaurant presentation, diced onions, and sliced, diced, and wedge-cut potatoes.
After a childhood spent on a family cocoa and coffee farm in Jamaica, Lawford Baxter chose to establish CFE in Minnesota for the unique blend of rural and urban communities there. Over the past 24 years, Cut Fruit Express has expanded into a thriving multi-million-dollar enterprise, with 60 employees and a dedicated facility of 46,000 square feet.
