"The best thing about my job is when I go to another country and people tell me they love my pineapples," said Alberto Esquivel, chairman of Frutex, The Oppenheimer Group's source for Costa Rican pineapples. And there is indeed a lot to love about Linda Gold pineapple, favored for its buttery yellow color and succulent sweetness.

Linda Gold pineapple is currently produced on two farms, Frutex and Babilonia, but due to increasing demand, planting will begin on a third farm in mid-January. At present, Alberto manages 1,650 hectares of pineapples across the two facilities. The third operation, Jaspine, is located nearer to the Pacific Ocean. In the new year, Alberto and his staff will bring its 800 hectares into production at a rate of 18.5 hectares per month.

Oppenheimer plans to market a total of 1.3 million cartons of Linda Gold pineapple in 2003. The majority of the fruit is brought into Wilmington and Miami, though a few months ago we began receiving pineapple into California.

Alberto, an agricultural engineer, entered the pineapple business about four years ago as a continuation of his career in the Costa Rican coffee and banana industries.

"Bananas and pines have a lot in common," he said. "Product can be shipped in the same vessels. We use the same shipping lines. I saw great opportunity with the gold pineapple. Market research indicated that the gold had a great deal of potential, and that consumption was up. I decided it was time to diversify."

Alberto is a well-traveled person with a global vision. He has enjoyed an interesting career, serving as Costa Rica's secretary of agriculture under President Oscar Arias, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1987. He also established a personal friendship with Sam Walton before the Wal-Mart founder passed away in 1992.

Now, with wife Melba at his side, Alberto works closely with the staff on the farms. His favorite way to monitor the pineapple production is from the air, piloting a King Air Beachcraft, or a Cessna 206 single engine plane, or "air jeep" as Alberto puts it. Alberto enjoys flying as a hobby as well and has undertaken such exciting adventures as flying a Microlite experimental plane from Florida to Costa Rica.

Some members of Alberto's family are also involved in the business. His second daughter, Adriana, is an attorney who handles any legal issues relating to the operation. Together with the Lewis family from Panama, he owns several box factories in Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Dominican Republic and Mexico. Just recently, his son, Alberto Jr., moved from Cartones Del Caribe in the Dominican Republic to Corr-Mex in Mexico, to become the CEO.

Alberto's eldest daughter, Vivina, is an economist and mother of three sons. His youngest daughter, Alexandra, is finishing her studies at Tulane University in New Orleans.