New Chiquita CEO meets with employees

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — New Chiquita CEO Edward Lonergan met with more than 300 employees at the NASCAR Hall of Fame on Wednesday. 

The meeting with new employees is the first of several he will have around the world in the coming weeks.

"We are back to the focus on the core, on salads and bananas and ensuring that what we sell is valued by consumers and our customers, and that then returns profits to the company," Lonergan said.

He plans to meet with customers in the United States and in Europe and also has a trip planned to the tropics where the bananas are grown.

He said he has a lot to learn, and despite some background in the food business, he said everything is different.

He will have some help over the next year from former CEO Fernando Aguirre, who is staying on as an advisor with the company.

Eyewitness News asked the new CEO about that relationship and how he expects it to play out.

"On a pretty regular basis, we're going to talk about his insights in the business and his knowledge over nine years of all the things that worked and didn't work," Lonergan said.

Lonergan takes over just months after the company relocated from Ohio. He said the move to Charlotte was done for the right reasons.

WSOC