First cold storage in South Africa

Imperial Cold Storage had been developed and established by our shareholders – the Graaff family – in 1899 and was the first cold storage introduced in South Africa.

Cape Town harbour 1905

Where the first South African fruit was exported by Cape Orchard Company, founded by Delecta shareholders, the Dicey family’s great grandfather.

25 Years of Delecta

Delecta was founded in 1997 by Jonathan Gersh and De Villiers Graaff and initially focused on exporting seedless grapes to North America. From humble beginnings, Delecta established itself as one of the leading multi-category exporters of fresh produce. Today Delecta is owned by leading producers and exports 245 different varieties to 46 countries across the globe.

Seeing that South African exports were regulated pre 1997, Delecta is one of the oldest privately owned export companies operating in SA. In this context our grower roots stretch back to the very beginning of the fruit export and refrigeration in South Africa, with specifically the Graaff and Dicey families involved.

Putting this into context; the Graaff family was the very first to establish refrigeration in South Africa. Where the first South African fruit was exported by Cape Orchard Company, founded by Delecta shareholders, the Dicey family’s great grandfather.

From these bold beginnings our existing shareholder growers have stood the test of time and are proud to be building forth their production footprint across the fresh fruit industry.

Longevity of the Delecta shareholder families in the fruit business in South Africa