Church Bros. excited about new things in the pipeline

Church Bros. Farms is a vertically integrated family-owned and operated company that produces a full line of fresh vegetables year-round with an in-house farming/harvest program and state-of-the-art processing plant, True Leaf Farms.

For the first quarter of 2024, markets were a little sluggish with volume off from previous years, but things improved by mid-March.

“Fortunately, markets have really picked up and volume is back to normal,” said Jeff Church, COO of the Salinas, CA-based company. “We have a lot of things in the pipeline, both from a corporate and new business perspective, that we’re excited about.”

For 2024, the company is focused on several value-added and whole leaf items for foodservice — its Tuscan Salads line of tender leaf blends, and its new Burger & Sandwich Leaf, which is green leaf with Iceberg properties.

“It holds up really well to heat, but has an almost perfectly round, green frilly edge which is ideal for burger buns and round sandwich rolls,” Church said.

At Church Bros., there’s mindset that women are viewed and treated as equals, and many have made a strong impact on the company.

“It doesn’t matter what gender you are — if you’re great at what you do, we’ll recognize and reward that,” Church said. “I’ve seen the entire industry evolve. Produce used to be very male-dominated; now it’s much more even, with women rising through the ranks. We’ve seen the same trend at Church Bros. We have a lot of strong female leaders here.”

For instance, Stacy Radich, the company’s chief financial officer, is not only good at what she does, she’s also very passionate about the company and is great at collaborating with and communicating across all departments.

Then there’s Veronica Alvero, vice president of human resources, who leads both the safety and HR teams across multiple facilities and locations.

“She’s a master at keeping many plates spinning at the same time,” Church said. “And Lisa Dennis, our director of sales operations, is the glue that holds together our sales organization. She’s insanely detail-oriented while managing to stay levelheaded and calm amidst the chaos.”

Church Bros.’ mission is to be the first call customers make when looking for produce supply solutions.

“The secret of success is to be relentless and never quit,” Church said.

That’s important to keep in mind when things are less than ideal and issues arise.

“Rising costs are always a challenge, plus always being at the mercy of Mother Nature,” Church said. “To overcome those issues, we have to stay competitively priced as well as roll with the punches that nature throws our way.”