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Robert is Here … and Has Been HERE since 1959!

Last Updated on November 9, 2021

Photo of Robert is Here from distance 2021

Whenever your Florida road trip travels take you to South Florida or the Keys, make sure to put Robert is Here in Homestead on your itinerary. The 63-year-old fruit and vegetable stand is famous for its incredible selection of delicious and unusual produce, plus remarkable milkshakes. However, the history behind this place is equally unforgettable.

Your trip to Key West should include a pit stop at Robert is Here where you can do a little shopping, savor the flavors of an exotic fruit milkshake, and check out this great shop.

Photo of Robert is Here exotic milkshake in car

Robert wrote a book that wasn’t a book full of recipes. It was written by South Florida historian Cesar Becerra and digs deep into the soul of this Authentic Florida institution and the family behind it.

History of Robert is Here

Photo of Robert is Here Purple Martin House

The behind-the-scenes journey of Robert and Tracy Moehling and their family goes much more in-depth than what many initially knew about the six-year-old kid who tried to sell his family’s extra cucumbers at a roadside table that went unnoticed until he put up a sign that read “Robert is Here.”

Photo of Robert is Here Milkshake stand

Becerra recorded and siphoned 200 hours of interviews and many never-before-seen photos for his book. The book is a real page-turner. Following the journey of this family for over six decades was not only inspiring but also a great lesson in perseverance.

Photo of Robert is Here Coconut Monkeys
We purchased the Mom & Baby Coconut!

Books and Books in Coral Gables, did a book release party in 2015. They also put together a few excerpts from the book written by Cesar A. Becerra.

Photo of Robert is Here sugar cane

There are hundreds of historical facts throughout the book Robert Is Here: Looking East for a Lifetime that the public will learn (most for the first time). Book and Books nailed the top ten facts from the book which we have posted below.

Photo of Robert is Here book display with coconut head

TOP TEN ROBERT IS HERE FACTS:

1.  NEXT FLIGHT…SOUTH DADE: 

Before the Moehling Family moved to South Dade, they owned and subsequently sold farmland that would one day become Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport.

Robert is Here Shippable Produce
Source: Robert is Here

2. ROBERT SHIPS NATIONWIDE. EVEN TO ALASKA

Robert Is Here ships all around the nation and one particular customer enjoys buying and consuming hundreds of pounds (13 pounds per week in the summer) of tropical fruit from her home in Alaska, 5,216 miles away from Robert’s fruit stand.

3. CAN’T-MISS THE (NEW) SIGN

The latest iconic 3-d sign (there have been five main signs) which is installed at an 8% angle and is made up of 3-foot tall metal letters is no slick marketing ploy but the insistence from the Moehling’s roofer who would not redo the roof if Robert was going to paint all over his work.

4. SAME NAME, DIFFERENT SIGNS

Over the years there have been 5 main Robert Is Here signs. After the historic hand spray painted (in cursive) sign that Robert’s father spray painted (directly onto two hurricane shutters) a day after nobody stopped to buy cucumbers from a six-year-old Robert, the sign has been featured as hanging letters from a string, painted straight onto the roof, alongside the overhang and on other four by eight-foot ply-wood boards.

Tractors at Robert is Here
Source: Robert is Here

5. JAY LENO OWNS THE OTHER ONE

The Moehling family owns (aside from nearly two dozen antique tractors and trucks) one of only two working 1913 Briggs Detroiter automobiles (the other is owned by Jay Leno).

Goats at Robert is Here
Source: Robert is Here

6. HOW THE ANIMAL FARM BEGAN

The petting zoo area started as a fluke in the form of a promise made to a friend of Robert who needed a temporary space to house a few dozen of his prize tortoises on the fruit stand’s property including the largest and oldest of all Galapagos tortoises. The giant tortoise, aptly named “Centurion” was said by experts to be approximately 130 years old.

Two milkshakes ina "Robert is Here" cup at the Robert is Here farmer's market in Florida
Source: Robert is Here

7. “SHAKE-ING” NEW RECORDS. 

The typical blender at Robert Is Here Ice Cream shake shop does more than double duty as to the regular rated maximum hours used in a day the manufacturer recommends. The fruit stand started with just one blender in 1984. It now boasts no less than 12 with nearly a dozen employees handling that business alone. In fact, the stand produced and sold 1,800 shakes and smoothies in one day.

Photo of Robert is Here exotic milkshake in car


This is the only way to calculate daily visitation numbers. The family and Becerra guestimate can balloon to nearly three to five thousand (3,000 to 5,000) a day in the high visitation winter season. If you consider some of those shakes bought translate to one, two or more people pulling up to the stand per purchase, per car.

8. HURRICANE PROOF

After Hurricane Andrew knocked nearly 10,000 trees throughout seventy acres of Roberts tropical fruit groves. Robert re-trenched (literally and figuratively) by carefully cross-hatching deep dug trench rows for future tropical trees. He planted this way so that their root systems would be deeply inset and not topple.

Gator Jam jars at Robert is Here
Source: Robert is Here

9. JAR-RING FACT

There is one employee (of the nearing 60 part-time and full time) that works at Robert Is Here. Their only job is to stock, re-stock, tweak, and turn all jars so that the labels face the public. They make sure that all 3,000 jars stand as straight as soldiers all day long.

10. FUTURE FRUIT-MAGNATE

Grandson Jackson Moehling once built a mini fruit stand for a class project. When asked why he didn’t name the stand “Jackson Is Here” the 6-year-old first-grader perplexed and exasperated retorted…” now why would I do that, everybody knows Robert Is Here, I would be crazy to name it anything else!”

Photo of Robert of Robert is Here signing book

If you’re in the Homestead area, you can stop by Robert is Here and purchase this book. Robert will be happy to sign it for you … and so will his adult son, Little Robert.

If you’re not in the area, order this book online, on the Robert is Here website. In fact, you can order a lot of great stuff at Robert is Here online.

Looking for other things to do in this part of the Sunshine State? Check out:

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