Competitors offer to help ‘Lettuce King’ Joe Giangregorio, owner of Rainbow Fresh, after fire destroys his industrial packing shed at Lewiston

A vegetable packing shed at Lewiston has gone up in flames in a $2.5 million fire – but other primary producers in the area have reached out to the owners to help them continue their business.

An industrial fruit & veg shed at Lewiston has been destroyed leaving a damage bill of $2.5 million. Joe Giangregorio, Director of Rainbow fresh and started the business 50 years ago pictured with his daughter Maria on the 15th October 2020. Pic Tait Schmaal.

Community spirit is well and truly alive in the Adelaide Plains.

Rival businesses have been quick to offer help to a Lewiston vegetable grower whose packing shed was destroyed by fire on Wednesday night.

The blaze at Rainbow Fresh, on Pederick Road, caused $2.5 million damage and has devastated its owners, the Giangregorio family.

More than 60 CFS firefighters and almost 25 MFS firefighters battled the inferno, which broke out at the facility about 9.15pm.

Sadly, they were unable to save the uninsured premises.

Crews contained the fire at about 3am and remain onsite this morning.

No one was injured in the incident.

The cause of the inferno is yet to be determined but it is believed to be non-suspicious.

Joe Giangregorio with his daughters Juliet and Maria at their Rainbow Fresh packing shed, which was destroyed in a $2.5m fire. Picture: Tait Schmaal.

Fire crews tackle the blaze at Rainbow Fresh at Lewiston. Picture: Harvey Biggs/Nine News Adelaide

Rainbow Fresh is owned by Guiseppi (Joe) and Antoinetta Giangregorio.

Mr Giangregorio is known as the “Lettuce King”.

“It’s very sad … very hard,” he said. “I started it 50 years ago … I put in all my life here, it’s not very good. (The main thing) is nobody got hurt.”

Mr Giangregorio said he was grateful for the kindness of rival businesses who, upon learning of the fire, called him to offer the use of their facilities so he could continue operating.

“Some of the competition … offered me (the use of their facilities) to operate – that’s very good,” he said.

“It means a lot. I’m an old man. I’m not young, and I enjoy what I do and I’ve put a lot of effort into it.”

An industrial fruit & veg shed at Lewiston has been destroyed leaving a damage bill of $2.5 million. Joe Giangregorio, Director of Rainbow fresh and started the business 50 years ago pictured with his daughters Juliet and Maria on the 15th October 2020. Pic Tait Schmaal.

Mr Giangregorio said he hoped to have a new packing shed up and running within four to six months.

In the meantime, he said the business still had product to sell and while its 25 workers were given the day off on Thursday, there was still work to be done to supply customers.

The Giangregorio family have been primary producers in the Adelaide Plains since the 1970s.

Since the 1990s, the business has specialised in gourmet lettuces.

Joe Giangregorio speaks to fire-cause investigators at the scene. Picture: Tait Schmaal

“Rainbow Fresh plants about 50 million lettuce seeds a year from which it grows 500 tonnes of lettuces,” their website reads.

In 2014, Rainbow Fresh was named the state’s best farmer with less than 15 employees at the South Australian Food Awards.