40th Anniversary Celebrated: California Giant Berry Farms remains focused on berry category
40th Anniversary Celebrated: California Giant Berry Farms remains focused on berry category
It was 40 years ago that cousins Bill Moncovich and Pat Riordan joined forces with Frank Saveria and Red Bryant to make their mark in the strawberry business when they opened the doors of New West Fruit Corp. in Watsonville, CA. Today, that same company is called California Giant Berry Farms, having transitioned to its brand name in 1998.
The two cousins were already produce industry veterans before they founded New West Fruit Corp., according to current California Giant President Joe Barsi. He noted that Riordan was working in Florida for a strawberry shipper when he decided to join forces with Moncovich, a Watsonville native and the driver behind the formation of the company who had already spent a decade in the industry developing rapport with area growers. In the beginning, Moncovich and Riordan owned a majority of the company they started with the two other partners. Today Moncovich is the sole owner of California Giant Berry Farms.
“They started out small and initially tried growing strawberries, but that didn’t work out,” said Barsi, noting that in the spring of 1983 the Salinas Valley was hit with heavy rains and with what was then called a 50-year flood.
Instead, they slowly built-up relationships with area growers to represent their fruit in the marketplace. In the partnership between the two cousins, Barsi said “Pat was a dynamic salesperson and Bill excelled at grower relations.”
That division of duties defined their work relationship for decades. Today, many of the growers partnering with California Giant have been collaborating with the shipper for as long as 30 years.
The company represents growers up and down the coast, but Barsi noted that it has always had a strong presence in the Santa Maria Valley. “Bill is a visionary and always said that he loves Santa Maria and the high-quality strawberries that come out of that region,” Barsi said. “You could say that we established our beachhead in Santa Maria and it has always been there.”
The company evolved strategically over the years with strawberries as its signature item and becoming a grower as well as representing the fruit of many independent growers. As demand and the popularity of strawberries has grown exponentially in the past 40 years, California Giant Berry Farms has led and shared in that success.
It begs the question, why strawberries? “Bill always said it’s better to be lucky than good,” Barsi quipped. But clearly the founding partner and current sole owner of the company had a vision that has been executed to perfection.
In the beginning, the partnership’s focus was on providing the best strawberries from California to its customers all across North America. Today, it has expanded its product line to include blueberries, raspberries and blackberries, and it is partnering with growers throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico and South America. Through that growth, the focus has not changed.
“We haven’t changed our mission,” Barsi said. “We are laser focused on quality. It’s in our strategic plan. It is how we differentiate ourselves. Some other companies may pack to get units; we never do that.”
The company’s president revealed that producing the best quality berries is a 24/7 process that requires strict standards and adherence to them all along the path from the field through the shipment to its customers. “We have specifications about how we grow and what we pack,” he said. “I believe we have the most stringent color and quality specs in the industry. We make sure we never put an inferior product in the tray. We are known for that.”
And Barsi said it is reflected in the market price the company gets for its product and the returns it gives its growers.
While the company has taken a stairstep approach to growth, Barsi said there have been periods of accelerated growth along the way. In fact, in 2005, Barsi joined the organization specifically to help grow its blueberry business. He remained with the company in that capacity until 2012 and then rejoined the firm in 2018 as part of the senior management group.
Since 2005, the blueberry growth has been tremendous for both the company and in the United States in general.
“Strawberry sales and volume continue to increase and they are still our number one item,” he said. “Consumers love strawberries and we believe there is still a lot of white space in which to grow the category.”
He added that blueberries have had phenomenal growth and they still have upside potential but the economics of blueberries are different. “Blueberries are mostly consumed by the upper middle class,” he said, stating that grower economics are one of the bigger challenges of continuing to expand the berry category in general.
He noted that 90 percent of strawberries consumed in the United States are still grown in California with growers having to navigate many challenges. “Growers are facing government regulations, labor issues and water supply challenges,” he said. “I still see a bright future, but there is no question that rising costs continue to be a challenge for growers to make a profit.”
Barsi expects more industry consolidation at the grower level as a way to deal with some of those challenges. “I expect we will see more acreage in fewer hands moving forward just as we see that in other commodities such as apples,” he offered, noting that the retail landscape is also constantly consolidating.
While urban sprawl in California is always a concern, especially in the coastal environments where strawberries thrive, Barsi expects higher yielding varieties, improved cultural practices and more technology in the field to help produce more berries on less acres. In that vein, he expects advances in gene editing to help improve yield and quality challenges. “I do believe consumers will be open to that in the long term,” he said, mirroring recent consumer surveys on the topic.
While California Giant Berry Farms is working with innovators on cultural breakthroughs, Barsi does not expect to see vertical farming revolutionize the berry industry. “That is very challenging for berries,” he said. “It is easier to grow a leaf than a fruit indoors, which is why you see most of the vertical farms achieving success in the leafy greens business.”
However, he said growing berries on glass house table tops does show some promise. But he believes that open field berry production will continue to dominate the category for a long time to come.
Barsi said California Giant Berry Farms has no plans to expand its product line beyond the four berries it currently grows and markets. But it will continue to look at new areas of production that can make sense for the organization. It has extensive operations in Mexico with most of its raspberry and blackberry production coming from south of the border.
Organic berry production is another area of growth for the four-decades-old operation. “We see continued growth for the category in the marketplace,” he said. “Currently organics represent about 15 percent of our production.”
In looking back over the company’s history, Barsi said the organization is very proud of its efforts to give back to the community. “Bill’s leadership has led the way in that regard,” he said.
The company formalized its 501(c)3 nonprofit, The California Giant Foundation, in 2015. Since that time, the foundation has donated more than $1 million to various charities throughout the community. “It is part of our company culture,” he said. “Our employees enthusiastically get behind that effort.”
Barsi added that the employees of California Giant Berry Farms are crucial to the firm’s success and it is clear that the company has created a great atmosphere in which to work. “Nearly 40 percent of our employees have been here 10 years or more and we have more than a handful that have been here for at least 30 years,” he said. “California Giant is a great place to work!”
