While Hillary Clinton takes a second chance at campaigning for president and begins to do so through small personal events, she will visit an Iowa company that believes in second chances for employees and works to promote local growers.

After visiting Kirkwood Community College on Tuesday, Clinton will visit Capital City Fruit in Norwalk, Iowa on Wednesday. The company was originally founded in 1949 as a small fruit market in downtown Des Moines before the creation of Interstate 235 and is now run by brothers Brendan, Kieran and Christian Comito.

Brendan Comito, chief operating officer for the company, said Clinton’s campaign reached out to the Capital City Fruit last Friday before Clinton officially announced her candidacy.

Comito said he is not sure just why Clinton chose his business, though he assumes it is because the company was an economic success through the recent recession and cares about its employees.

“At first we were kind of like ‘we’re too busy to handle something like that,’” Comito said. “Then we were like ‘how often do you have a former first lady, a former senator, a former secretary of state and a presidential candidate all rolled into one come and visit your business and learn about your successes and challenges?’”

Clinton has announced her hasty tour through Iowa is meant to foster closer relationships with voters in the early-voting states. Political analysts have theorized Clinton’s closed meetings and delayed campaign stop announcements — as well as her idea of traveling in a van instead of flying to early-voting states — are meant to establish her as an approachable candidate for the middle class, or “everyday Americans” as she claimed in her announcement video.

“It is basically her coming here to learn about our business and our company. We’re going to have a roundtable with other business owners and we’ll get a chance to tell her about our businesses and our struggles,” Comito said.

Clinton is working to establish personal connections, but Comito said Capital City Fruit has a history of using local growers to establish their business, drawing much of their product from within a 300-mile radius from Des Moines during the summer.

“We try and do what the customer wants, and this is what we’re hearing from the customers what they want. We’ve been working with local growers for over 30 years, before it was popular. In the last five years, we’ve seen a significant increase in demand for local produce,” Comito said.  

While Clinton begins her second presidential campaign, Comito said Capital City Fruit and Comito himself are strong proponents for second chances for their employees, 38 percent of whom are immigrants or refugees from places such as Vietnam, Burma, Mexico, El Salvador and African countries.

Though Clinton has not announced why she chose to visit Capital City Fruit or detailed any stance on immigration reform, Comito said he believes that is an issue any presidential candidate should focus on.

“What we’re finding is that the people from these other countries are extremely reliable and dedicated and hard-working,” Comito said. 

There are times when the company has a desirable candidate who cannot be hired because it is found the person is here illegally. 

“What that points to me is that there is probably a need for some type of work visa program or some type of immigration reform, so that all these people that are kind of hidden could get a job legally, could get a license legally,” Comito said. “Our country’s really been built by immigrants and I think it’s important that we invest in this new generation of immigrants.”

Comito said there is “no question” immigrants will “require a lot of resources, a lot of help and a lot of assistance,” but they are worth it because the first generation of immigrants are making the sacrifices and working hard so the second and third generations will be successful. 

“We need to be looking at [immigrants] as an investment, not as a detriment,” Comito said. “They’re creating jobs. If an immigrant is working on a roof or as a bus boy, they’ve got to go eat lunch, so that helps the restaurant trade. They’ve got to go put their money somewhere, so that helps the banking industry. The jobs created from these immigrants more than offsets any jobs they would take.”

Comito said he hopes to use the opportunity to meet with Clinton to talk about the struggles for business owners in America.

“I hope she just listens. A lot of times politicians come in and say this is what I’m about. It’s very rare that they say ‘I’m here to listen to what you care about,’” Comito said. “It’s really important to engage with political leaders so they know what challenges you face. What we’re trying to do is make sure they’re creating an environment where jobs can grow and businesses can be successful.”

Though Comito said he identifies as a democrat, he is open to speaking with any candidate on issues considered both liberal or conservative. 

“I want to support things that are going to help my company and my employees,” Comito said.