
Dole Food Company, Inc. Ranks Among Top Ten Companies In American Customer Satisfaction Index
Westlake Village, California - February 21, 2003
Dole Food Company, Inc. (NYSE: DOL) today announced that it is ranked second among the thirty-one companies in the food, beverage and tobacco sector as ranked by The Customer Respect Group in its Winter 2003 Customer Respect Study. The Customer Respect Group is an international research and consulting firm that focuses on how corporations treat their customers online based on 25 different attributes that create the online customer experience. Dole's Customer Respect Index was 8.9, while the average for the sector was 6.2. The study included all Fortune 500 and Fortune 100 companies within individual industry sectors.
Lawrence A. Kern, president and chief operating officer, stated: "The company is pleased to have received this recognition. Dole is proud of the customer-friendly design of its web site and this acknowledgement of Dole's commitment to provide our customers with the highest quality products and services".
Dole Food Company, Inc., with 2002 revenues of $4.4 billion, is the world's largest producer and marketer of high-quality fresh fruit, fresh vegetables and fresh-cut flowers, and markets a growing line of packaged foods.