Elephant Garlic Kings now shipping organic elephant garlic
Elephant Garlic Kings now shipping organic elephant garlic
KING CITY, CA -- Elephant Garlic Kings began shipping certified-organic elephant garlic the week of Aug. 20.
The company, based here, received its organic certification May 1 by Agricultural Services Certified Organic. According to Elephant Garlic Kings partners Chris Pope and Pier Azcona, the company is the first to grow organic elephant garlic in any real volume. Mr. Pope anticipates that the company will have 50,000 pounds for sale this first year, mostly to existing customers.
"[Organic is] another outlet for our products," Mr. Azcona said. "It's a better margin, and it's filling a demand that's there."
Elephant Garlic Kings ships only to distributors. In addition to its own label, Elephant Garlic Kings does much private branding for major garlic distributors. At retail, the target market includes Whole Foods and Wild Oats. High-end restaurants are a target market for the organic garlic, as well.
"The East Coast is where we're starting first," Mr. Pope said.
The company has its own proprietary seed for its organic elephant garlic. Crinklaw Farms -- the predecessor to Elephant Garlic Kings -- was an early developer of elephant garlic, Mr. Pope said. Following Bill Crinklaw's death in 1999, Mr. Pope and his wife, Grace, partnered with Mr. Azcona and his brother Nick in 2001 to form Elephant Garlic Kings.
At Crinklaw Farms, Mr. Pope was director of sales and marketing for four years and Ms. Pope was the sales coordinator. Mr. Azcona had worked with Mr. Crinklaw on dehydrated garlic in Mexico.
Elephant Garlic Kings will "end up with more than 1 million pounds of No. 1 conventional" garlic this year, Mr. Pope said.
"We're fairly large in the small business of elephant garlic," Mr. Pope said of Elephant Garlic Kings line of conventional and organic garlic.
Elephant Garlic Kings plants and harvests its garlic while a "prominent South [Monterey] County grower" oversees growing duties, Mr. Pope said. The harvest runs from about the first week of July through the third week of September. The company exports to Japan, Mexico, Europe and Canada.
By becoming organically certified, the company has changed its internal reporting so that conventional follows the same reporting for food safety. The company uses NutriClean as a third-party auditor.
The company, based here, received its organic certification May 1 by Agricultural Services Certified Organic. According to Elephant Garlic Kings partners Chris Pope and Pier Azcona, the company is the first to grow organic elephant garlic in any real volume. Mr. Pope anticipates that the company will have 50,000 pounds for sale this first year, mostly to existing customers.
"[Organic is] another outlet for our products," Mr. Azcona said. "It's a better margin, and it's filling a demand that's there."
Elephant Garlic Kings ships only to distributors. In addition to its own label, Elephant Garlic Kings does much private branding for major garlic distributors. At retail, the target market includes Whole Foods and Wild Oats. High-end restaurants are a target market for the organic garlic, as well.
"The East Coast is where we're starting first," Mr. Pope said.
The company has its own proprietary seed for its organic elephant garlic. Crinklaw Farms -- the predecessor to Elephant Garlic Kings -- was an early developer of elephant garlic, Mr. Pope said. Following Bill Crinklaw's death in 1999, Mr. Pope and his wife, Grace, partnered with Mr. Azcona and his brother Nick in 2001 to form Elephant Garlic Kings.
At Crinklaw Farms, Mr. Pope was director of sales and marketing for four years and Ms. Pope was the sales coordinator. Mr. Azcona had worked with Mr. Crinklaw on dehydrated garlic in Mexico.
Elephant Garlic Kings will "end up with more than 1 million pounds of No. 1 conventional" garlic this year, Mr. Pope said.
"We're fairly large in the small business of elephant garlic," Mr. Pope said of Elephant Garlic Kings line of conventional and organic garlic.
Elephant Garlic Kings plants and harvests its garlic while a "prominent South [Monterey] County grower" oversees growing duties, Mr. Pope said. The harvest runs from about the first week of July through the third week of September. The company exports to Japan, Mexico, Europe and Canada.
By becoming organically certified, the company has changed its internal reporting so that conventional follows the same reporting for food safety. The company uses NutriClean as a third-party auditor.
