The Melon 1 Story

Melon 1 is one of the country’s oldest and largest watermelon growers and shippers, yet we’re still a family business at heart.

Our company was founded when two third-generation watermelon companies joined forces to better serve customers. F. H. Dicks of South Carolina combined his growing, harvesting and shipping experience with the distribution, packaging and sales capabilities of Lawrence Lapide of New York to create a rapidly growing company. In 1999, Richard Chastain rounded out our year-round growing capabilities, and the rest, as they say, is history.

We’ve come a long way since 1935; today, we ship nationwide from distribution points across the U.S. and Central America, using cutting-edge technology to meet food safety and traceability standards and provide our customers with the freshest, highest quality product possible.

Aerial View of a Farm

Some things haven’t changed a bit, however. We’ll always owe our success and our strength to our farmers. We are beyond proud to represent some of the best and most committed watermelon growers in the world, with relationships dating back decades. Their growing expertise and attention to quality is essential to our success and ultimately, to our customers’ satisfaction.

Southwest Produce Concil
Watermelon Association
New England Produce Council
IFPA primary-logomark1

Our People

John Lapide
John Lapide
Owner
Rich Chastain
Rich Chastain
Owner
Hamilton Dicks
Hamilton Dicks
Owner
Trey Miller
Trey Miller
Chief Operating Officer
Rachel Syngo
Rachel Syngo
New Business Development
Brandi Profile
Brandi John
Food Safety Manager
Kyler Bishop
Kyler Bishop
Farm Operations Manager
John Lapide
John Lapide
Owner
Rich Chastain
Rich Chastain
Owner
Hamilton Dicks
Hamilton Dicks
Owner
Trey Miller
Trey Miller
Chief Operating Officer
Rachel Syngo
Rachel Syngo
New Business Development
Brandi Profile
Brandi John
Food Safety Manager
Kyler Bishop
Kyler Bishop
Farm Operations Manager

Behind the Scenes

 

Who’s Growing your Watermelon?

Get the dirt on the melon farm life: bees, busses, and everything in between.
 

How Do we Pack all Those Watermelons?

See the process behind our hand-planted, hand-harvested, hand-packed goodness.

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