Dole Fresh Flowers Opens World Headquarters Facility in Miami

Business Wire, Jan 10, 2002

Business Editors

MIAMI--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 10, 2002

Dole Food Company, Inc. (NYSE:DOL) announces the opening of the new world headquarters of Dole Fresh Flowers.

The 328,000-square-foot facility is the center of operation for processing, warehousing and shipping, in addition to housing corporate offices. Located on 17 acres of property in International Corporate Park (ICP), the new facility, located at 10055 NW 12th Street, kicked off operations on Dec. 17, 2001 with 300 employees and will operate year-round.

"With our new state-of-the-art facility, we will continue to provide optimum service to our wholesale and retail customers that are located throughout North America," says Scott Greenwood, president, Dole Fresh Flowers.

Visitors to the facility are greeted by the sight of Dole Fresh Flowers' Rose Garden featuring 280 rose bushes in various colors and varieties. The new facility also features a show-stopping merchandising room designed to showcase Dole's 820 varieties of fresh cut flowers, including 170 varieties of roses, to prospective customers. A state-of-the-art technical laboratory allows for continual floral research and development.

Dole's entry into the floral business was created by the acquisition of several floral businesses. "The new facility was built to accommodate the merging of those businesses into one cohesive unit of operation," says Greenwood. "Each acquired business brought its own strength and team which added to the overall vision. Now, the consolidation of those businesses into one facility will complete the process of unifying the teams and facilitating procedures to benefit customers and employees."

Benefits include:

-- Streamlined handling of flowers from distribution to receipt including
improved cold-chain management;

-- Tighter inventory control and handling of product resulting in reduced
shrink costs and improved quality;

-- Enhanced working environment for employees.

Dole Fresh Flowers is the world's only ISO14001 certified international grower. The gold standard in the floral industry, it means that all items from Dole's floral farms the world over have been grown and harvested using the most stringent environmental standards.

According to Moises Croitoru, Dole Fresh Flowers vice president of operations, Dole's flower operations have passed inspection by SGS International Certification Services. This third-party certification ensures that Dole has an active environmental management system covering all activities in bouquet production and flower production processes, as well as post-harvest packing houses, integrated and disease pest management control, laboratories and service areas.

"Just as important," adds Croitoru, "it demonstrates that Dole has programs in place designed to protect its labor force. We have strict systems in place to preserve human health and prevent accidents or health-related diseases associated with labor conditions in everything we do."

Dole Fresh Flowers, Inc. is a subsidiary of the Dole Food Company, Inc. (NYSE:DOL). Dole Food Company, with 2000 revenues of $4.8 billion, is the world's largest producer and marketer of high-quality fresh fruit, fresh vegetables and fresh-cut flowers, and markets a growing line of packaged foods. For more information, visit the Dole Web site at www.dole.com.

Note to editor: Photos available upon request to amanda@londre.com