Onions Etc. Inc. thriving in new Stockton facility
Onions Etc. Inc. thriving in new Stockton facility
STOCKTON, CA -- Onions Etc. Inc., based here, is expanding sales of its butter baby potatoes with the Albertson's supermarket chain to include servicing Albertson's supermarket stores in the San Francisco Bay area.
Onions Etc. already services about 200 Albertson's stores in the Los Angeles area.
"We've been doing well in Los Angeles," said Derrell Kelso Jr., co-founder, president and salesman for Onions Etc. "We're always looking for something new & to grow people's sales."
Onions Etc. also sells its potatoes in some Cub Foods stores in Minnesota.
The company has enjoyed a dramatic surge in its onion sales, up 31 percent compared with last year. It has sold more than 3 million 50-pound units of onions this year compared with $2.5 million in 2004.
"We have increased our market share and are using more salespeople," Mr. Kelso said.
The company's onions are carried by more than 2,500 stores nationwide, with more than 80 percent of those sales taking place on the East Coast. Sales on the East Coast have risen dramatically in the past two years, he said. Building market share on the West Coast has proved to be more difficult.
"The West Coast is stuck on labels," Mr. Kelso said, adding that that same circumstance can work in his favor as well. The company works with several growers in California as well as growers in Washington, Nevada and Peru.
The company has doubled its acreage of sweet onions in Peru compared with last year.
"Our original mission in Peru was to create jobs," Mr. Kelso said.
Of 80 employees inside the packingshed there last year, 76 returned this year. The company has a new packingshed in Peru that came on-line for this season. The company has built a nursery at the packingshed for the children of its workers.
A year ago September, Onions Etc. moved into its new location at the port of Stockton following an August 2004 arsonist's attack on an adjacent business that gutted Onions Etc.'s 12,000-square-foot building. The port of Stockton facility offers more than three times the space of the previous location.
Onions Etc. already services about 200 Albertson's stores in the Los Angeles area.
"We've been doing well in Los Angeles," said Derrell Kelso Jr., co-founder, president and salesman for Onions Etc. "We're always looking for something new & to grow people's sales."
Onions Etc. also sells its potatoes in some Cub Foods stores in Minnesota.
The company has enjoyed a dramatic surge in its onion sales, up 31 percent compared with last year. It has sold more than 3 million 50-pound units of onions this year compared with $2.5 million in 2004.
"We have increased our market share and are using more salespeople," Mr. Kelso said.
The company's onions are carried by more than 2,500 stores nationwide, with more than 80 percent of those sales taking place on the East Coast. Sales on the East Coast have risen dramatically in the past two years, he said. Building market share on the West Coast has proved to be more difficult.
"The West Coast is stuck on labels," Mr. Kelso said, adding that that same circumstance can work in his favor as well. The company works with several growers in California as well as growers in Washington, Nevada and Peru.
The company has doubled its acreage of sweet onions in Peru compared with last year.
"Our original mission in Peru was to create jobs," Mr. Kelso said.
Of 80 employees inside the packingshed there last year, 76 returned this year. The company has a new packingshed in Peru that came on-line for this season. The company has built a nursery at the packingshed for the children of its workers.
A year ago September, Onions Etc. moved into its new location at the port of Stockton following an August 2004 arsonist's attack on an adjacent business that gutted Onions Etc.'s 12,000-square-foot building. The port of Stockton facility offers more than three times the space of the previous location.
