Hugo Tottino: an artichoke perennial
Hugo Tottino: an artichoke perennial
CASTROVILLE, CA -- Decades and decades ago, when packing artichokes was the domain of local women from the Castroville area, Hugo Tottino, a partner in the California Artichoke & Vegetable Growers Corp., would start every day by going into the packing plant to personally greet each of his workers before heading into his office.
Today, a lot has changed in the world around him. Artichokes are packed in the field, and the labor force has dramatically changed. The Castroville company has a large modern facility. Even the artichoke itself has undergone some important changes.
But the 80-year-old Hugo Tottino is still a co-partner in that company and he still starts every day by making the rounds at the corporate headquarters and personally greeting every employee at every desk before going into his own office.
"I like doing it and I think they liked it, too," he said talking about both the female workers of decades ago and the current group of office employees.
Artichokes and Castroville have been synonymous for at least 100 years. And the Tottino family has been an important part of the story for the lion's share of those years. "My father, Alfred, was one of the five original partners in the California Artichoke Growers, and I'm still one of the five owners."
Today Ocean Mist Farms is the distribution arm of the California Artichoke & Vegetable Growers Corp., just as Sea Mist Farms is its growing arm. Mr. Tottino owns 20 percent of the company, just as his father did 82 years ago. The Pierri family is still a 20 percent owner, as it was those many years ago. But today, there are three other partners, with the firm being led by partner, president and industry veteran Ed Boutonnet.
Mr. Tottino's life has revolved around the artichoke for all 80 years, and he is proud of that fact. He was born in Castroville in 1926 and has lived all his days there except for a two-year stint in the military at the end of World War II. Even then he found a Castroville artichoke connection. Albert Pieri, his contemporary and like him, a son of one of the founders of the firm, also was serving in the Pacific at the same time. "We met up in Hawaii and got together," he said as he pointed to a picture on his wall of him and Mr. Pieri in their Navy uniforms in Hawaii about 60 years ago.
Both Messrs. Pieri and Tottino are still partners in the company and talk often, though Mr. Pieri has retired and moved to Reno, NV. There is no hint of retirement in Mr. Tottino's voice, however, as he recalls his more than 60 years in the business. "My father gave me a ranch to run when I was 15," he said. "When I was 17, I joined the Navy and served for two years before coming back home [at the end of the war]."
The young Mr. Tottino, fresh from the war, was going to enter college, but one of the firm's supervisors convinced him to take a job with the company, and he hasn't looked back. He is an artichoke grower at heart and still walks one of the company's fields every day. His status in the company increased in the 1950s and 1960s as his father gave him his 20 percent share in the firm.
In 1969, Alfred Tottino died but left a legacy of hard work behind him. Hugo Tottino said that his father continued working until the time of his death. While other partners got involved in hobbies such as golf or hunting, the Tottinos considered the artichoke both their life and their hobby.
"I loved to travel, and maybe I wish I would have done a bit more of that, but I did travel to a lot of places - South America, Europe," he said. In fact, he and Dolores, his wife of 55 years, are planning a trip to Italy, where both of them have roots from previous generations. "Dolores' family is from Perugia. My family is from an area near Genoa," said Mr. Tottino.
Discussing artichokes, the company's operations and Castroville with Mr. Tottino, one gets the impression that the three are intertwined to an indistinguishable level. Each memory brings a story.
Castroville has a sign that runs across the main drag recognizing it as the artichoke center of the world. Mr. Tottino cannot remember a time the sign wasn't there. But he does remember when it fell into disrepair and his firm stepped in to spruce it up. "The sign runs across a state highway and so we couldn't do anything without getting the state's approval." He remembered the state officials being fairly particular about what could be done with the sign. Castroville is also well known for its artichoke festival that is held annually. Mr. Tottino has been to many, but today his daughter Michele carries the family torch as an active participant in the event. "Michele's one of the organizers."
Any traveler visiting Castroville can't miss "The Giant Artichoke" restaurant that greets visitors with its namesake giant artichoke outside the restaurant. "We started the restaurant," Mr. Tottino said. "I think there were 10 of us that were partners. A lot of our longtime employees went into it with us."
Mr. Tottino also had a hand in starting the California Artichoke Advisory Board, one of California's earlier commodity boards. "I served on the board for many years and still like to go to the meetings," he said.
And anyone who has ever made a recipe using marinated artichoke hearts is familiar with the "Cara Mia" brand. "I think we started that processing facility in 1955," he said.
But running a canning operation in California got very expensive and it was difficult to compete against the foreign-grown, processed product. Eventually the California Artichoke & Vegetable Growers Corp. closed the cannery, "but we sold the brand to a company in Spain and they still sell it."
Today there is a transition going on from the perennial variety that has been grown in Castroville for probably 100 years to annual varieties.
Mr. Tottino has been involved for years as Ocean Mist researchers have developed some annual varieties that most people can't tell from the perennial. He said the annual varieties are every bit as good as the perennial, but he allowed that he does think he can tell the difference. That might be expected for someone who has had the artichoke in his daily diet for the last 80 years.
The annual varieties yield better and produce more uniform chokes, so it is the wave of the future. But Mr. Tottino gets nostalgic for the old-fashioned way of doing things. "My dad planted one field that we kept for 40 years." But he admitted in the end it finally had to be taken out because it wasn't producing. The typical life-span for a perennial plant is about eight to 10 years.
Another transition that has occurred over the past 30 years has seen Ocean Mist grow well beyond its artichoke roots. Even in the early days, the firm grew other crops, but Mr. Tottino remembered the 1970s as the beginning of the major expansion into spinach and broccoli and other commodities. Though Ocean Mist is the largest artichoke producer in the country, artichokes actually represent only about 20 percent of the company's current production.
Though Mr. Tottino has no plans to slow down, he has still made sure that the Tottino name will remain a constant at the firm his father started for years to come. His sons, Leslie and David, are executives with the company, as Les is stationed in Castroville while David is involved in the firm's Coachella operations. And he has a grandson about to graduate from college who is also interested in getting into the family business.
As a closing thought and indicative of his personality, Hugo Tottino wanted to give credit to all of the employees and his partners at Ocean Mist Farms. "Ed Boutonnet and all the partners are wonderful people to work with."
Today, a lot has changed in the world around him. Artichokes are packed in the field, and the labor force has dramatically changed. The Castroville company has a large modern facility. Even the artichoke itself has undergone some important changes.
But the 80-year-old Hugo Tottino is still a co-partner in that company and he still starts every day by making the rounds at the corporate headquarters and personally greeting every employee at every desk before going into his own office.
"I like doing it and I think they liked it, too," he said talking about both the female workers of decades ago and the current group of office employees.
Artichokes and Castroville have been synonymous for at least 100 years. And the Tottino family has been an important part of the story for the lion's share of those years. "My father, Alfred, was one of the five original partners in the California Artichoke Growers, and I'm still one of the five owners."
Today Ocean Mist Farms is the distribution arm of the California Artichoke & Vegetable Growers Corp., just as Sea Mist Farms is its growing arm. Mr. Tottino owns 20 percent of the company, just as his father did 82 years ago. The Pierri family is still a 20 percent owner, as it was those many years ago. But today, there are three other partners, with the firm being led by partner, president and industry veteran Ed Boutonnet.
Mr. Tottino's life has revolved around the artichoke for all 80 years, and he is proud of that fact. He was born in Castroville in 1926 and has lived all his days there except for a two-year stint in the military at the end of World War II. Even then he found a Castroville artichoke connection. Albert Pieri, his contemporary and like him, a son of one of the founders of the firm, also was serving in the Pacific at the same time. "We met up in Hawaii and got together," he said as he pointed to a picture on his wall of him and Mr. Pieri in their Navy uniforms in Hawaii about 60 years ago.
Both Messrs. Pieri and Tottino are still partners in the company and talk often, though Mr. Pieri has retired and moved to Reno, NV. There is no hint of retirement in Mr. Tottino's voice, however, as he recalls his more than 60 years in the business. "My father gave me a ranch to run when I was 15," he said. "When I was 17, I joined the Navy and served for two years before coming back home [at the end of the war]."
The young Mr. Tottino, fresh from the war, was going to enter college, but one of the firm's supervisors convinced him to take a job with the company, and he hasn't looked back. He is an artichoke grower at heart and still walks one of the company's fields every day. His status in the company increased in the 1950s and 1960s as his father gave him his 20 percent share in the firm.
In 1969, Alfred Tottino died but left a legacy of hard work behind him. Hugo Tottino said that his father continued working until the time of his death. While other partners got involved in hobbies such as golf or hunting, the Tottinos considered the artichoke both their life and their hobby.
"I loved to travel, and maybe I wish I would have done a bit more of that, but I did travel to a lot of places - South America, Europe," he said. In fact, he and Dolores, his wife of 55 years, are planning a trip to Italy, where both of them have roots from previous generations. "Dolores' family is from Perugia. My family is from an area near Genoa," said Mr. Tottino.
Discussing artichokes, the company's operations and Castroville with Mr. Tottino, one gets the impression that the three are intertwined to an indistinguishable level. Each memory brings a story.
Castroville has a sign that runs across the main drag recognizing it as the artichoke center of the world. Mr. Tottino cannot remember a time the sign wasn't there. But he does remember when it fell into disrepair and his firm stepped in to spruce it up. "The sign runs across a state highway and so we couldn't do anything without getting the state's approval." He remembered the state officials being fairly particular about what could be done with the sign. Castroville is also well known for its artichoke festival that is held annually. Mr. Tottino has been to many, but today his daughter Michele carries the family torch as an active participant in the event. "Michele's one of the organizers."
Any traveler visiting Castroville can't miss "The Giant Artichoke" restaurant that greets visitors with its namesake giant artichoke outside the restaurant. "We started the restaurant," Mr. Tottino said. "I think there were 10 of us that were partners. A lot of our longtime employees went into it with us."
Mr. Tottino also had a hand in starting the California Artichoke Advisory Board, one of California's earlier commodity boards. "I served on the board for many years and still like to go to the meetings," he said.
And anyone who has ever made a recipe using marinated artichoke hearts is familiar with the "Cara Mia" brand. "I think we started that processing facility in 1955," he said.
But running a canning operation in California got very expensive and it was difficult to compete against the foreign-grown, processed product. Eventually the California Artichoke & Vegetable Growers Corp. closed the cannery, "but we sold the brand to a company in Spain and they still sell it."
Today there is a transition going on from the perennial variety that has been grown in Castroville for probably 100 years to annual varieties.
Mr. Tottino has been involved for years as Ocean Mist researchers have developed some annual varieties that most people can't tell from the perennial. He said the annual varieties are every bit as good as the perennial, but he allowed that he does think he can tell the difference. That might be expected for someone who has had the artichoke in his daily diet for the last 80 years.
The annual varieties yield better and produce more uniform chokes, so it is the wave of the future. But Mr. Tottino gets nostalgic for the old-fashioned way of doing things. "My dad planted one field that we kept for 40 years." But he admitted in the end it finally had to be taken out because it wasn't producing. The typical life-span for a perennial plant is about eight to 10 years.
Another transition that has occurred over the past 30 years has seen Ocean Mist grow well beyond its artichoke roots. Even in the early days, the firm grew other crops, but Mr. Tottino remembered the 1970s as the beginning of the major expansion into spinach and broccoli and other commodities. Though Ocean Mist is the largest artichoke producer in the country, artichokes actually represent only about 20 percent of the company's current production.
Though Mr. Tottino has no plans to slow down, he has still made sure that the Tottino name will remain a constant at the firm his father started for years to come. His sons, Leslie and David, are executives with the company, as Les is stationed in Castroville while David is involved in the firm's Coachella operations. And he has a grandson about to graduate from college who is also interested in getting into the family business.
As a closing thought and indicative of his personality, Hugo Tottino wanted to give credit to all of the employees and his partners at Ocean Mist Farms. "Ed Boutonnet and all the partners are wonderful people to work with."
