![]() ![]() He took $150, all the money he had, bought a few thousand bananas (ripes), rented a partial boxcar, and began a race against time.His initial plan was to go to Mobile, Alabama, buy a pile of bananas direct from the fruit boats, and haul them back to Selma, Alabama to sell. Zemurray saw his opportunity in ripes.The only thing wrong with ripes was most people wanted to buy unblemished bananas.Roughly, 15% of banana shipments would end in the ripe pile before refrigeration came around. Ripes never got sold, never made it to market, tossed aside as trash, and left to spoil in the sun. “Boston Fruit used the following standard: one freckle, turning two freckles, ripe,” freckles being brown spots. There were three types of bananas, as far as Boston Fruit (the precursor to United Fruit) was concerned: greens, turnings, and ripes. ![]() Zemurray’s business life started after seeing his first banana in 1893.Along the way, he out-hustled and out-innovated the giant of the industry, United Fruit. Rich Cohen tells the story of a Russian immigrant, Sam Zemurray, who saw an opportunity in the banana business and seized it. ![]()
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