For over 60 years, five generations of Steve deTar’s family have been engaged in the family business, Brownwood Acres, making and retailing diverse fruit products and marketing the tastes of northwest lower Michigan worldwide.

“I still remember stirring batches of jams and jellies with my grandparents,” recalls Steve. “By the time I was a teenager I could make every product we sold. Not only were they wonderful teachers, but they passed on a strong work ethic.”

Always on the lookout for products using the region’s famed cherries, Steve and FruitFast partner Bob Underwood met following the Underwood’s introduction of Cherry and Blueberry capsules to the nutraceutical market.

“We like to carry regional products at our store and so began offering Bob and Janet’s whole fruit cherry and blueberry softgels,” he says. “It made a lot of sense to me to offer fruit anytime of the year in this convenient form.”

Before long, Steve and the Underwoods struck a business relationship and FruitFast was born. Entrepreneurial, independent and with strong convictions, the partners have forged a compatible association that finds Steve addressing product development, online marketing and overall business strategy.

Bob’s mantra of ‘find a way or make one’ has been responsible for the development of the firm’s proprietary processes. Steve brings e-marketing know-how to the equation and the ability to recognize a consumer need and fill it.

Steve and wife Dana recently celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary. They have five sons, college-aged to eleven years old.

Steve figures some of his sons will catch the same entrepreneurial spirit shared by his grandparents, and he plans on being around to help them succeed.