He spent two years at Sears-Schuman before getting an offer from Mutual Vegetable Sales, a Salinas company representing five different growers, and having close to a year-round deal. “I went from selling 1.5 to 2 million cartons of lettuce to selling 8-10 million cartons. When I started, there were four of us on the desk. I went from low man to sales manager during my three years there.”
The increased volume led to hectic days, but McBride loved the action. He reminded that it was the late 70s and early 80s, all sales were tied to the landline. “There were no emails or texts or even faxes yet — and there were no contracts. There was very little value-added product at the time. Bud Antle (the precursor to Tanimura & Antle) had a small shredding plant but most everything else was sold on a bulk basis.”
In 1982, McBride moved over to the Salinas Marketing Co-op, which had a much wider range of product. “When I started, we had cauliflower, celery and lettuce and soon we morphed into a full line with broccoli, Romaine, greed leaf, red leaf… and we also had Salinas Valley asparagus for many years.”
McBride said in those years Iceberg lettuce was still the driving force of the Salinas Valley. Romaine and the leaf lettuces were being grown on far fewer acres. “Of course, most of the other lettuces have grown enormously over the past 25 years. In fact, Romaine is now No. 1. That was made possible by two words: Caesar Salad — that’s been the difference maker,” he said.
In the 1990s, the Salinas Marketing Co-op merged with the Salinas Lettuce Farmers Co-op under the newly named River Valley Marketing sales office, with McBride continuing to be the sales manager. The result was a more seasonal deal from the Salinas Valley. McBride stayed with the group through the decade before landing with Sun Ridge Farms, which eventually changed its name to the current Coastline Family Farms. It has been home for the final 23 years of his career.
Coastline has been a commodity shipper for the most part, which fit well with McBride’s preference and skill set. The industry has continued to evolve and though McBride is old school, he has evolved with it. He called Coastline a mid-size company with a full-line of year-round vegetables from several growing regions, as he said that is a necessity in today’s grower-shipper environment.
“It’s just so much different today than it used to be,” he lamented. “Contract pricing and the consistency of supply is the norm, and it is a requirement. Over the years, contracts have become a necessity.”
He said the buying community needs a reliable supply source at a pre-arranged price or they will shop elsewhere. While McBride understands the concept, he argues that the contract price is often at a rate that almost guarantees long periods of very little or no profit. Escalator clauses allow the grower-shipper to up the price in a hot market, but not to the extent that it once was. “I miss the excitement of the roller coaster ride. It was scary, but you had some great moments.”
He remembered one late fall deal he had with the Salinas Marketing Co-op that brought a smile to his face. “We had a grower that always planted in the Carr Lake area. That year he planted 100 extra acres for a late harvest. Everyone asked, ‘What the hell are you going to do with that?’” McBride recalled. “That was a very wet fall with heavy rainstorms rendering many fields unable to be harvested. So, the market took off. We found an outside crew to pick that field and this little marketing co-op was able to dominate the lettuce supplies for several weeks. That was great.”
McBride revealed that the relationship between buyer and seller was also more complicated and more important in those days, indicating it required some special skills to thrive. “In general, the relationship was more adversarial than it is today, but if you had a good rapport with a buyer that could serve you well. They could pull your ass out of the fire if you needed it at some point.
“It’s just not the same anymore,” continued McBride. “There was much more satisfaction doing business back then with the people you knew and liked. It was more of a people business than it is today.”
It is not the evolution of the business that has led McBride to hand in his retirement notice. “I’ll be 70 years old on June 26 and my last day is two days later. It’s time. I can’t count the number of barbecues and family events that were interrupted because of the nature of the produce business.”
He said today’s business environment in the industry is much better but it is still a hands-on job. “I remember when we had the Salinas asparagus deal, you were on the clock seven days a week for five months.”
In retirement, he quipped, “I’d like to see what it’s like to be bored.”
McBride still found time to raise a family and live what he called “a great life.” He and his wife, Holly, met in high school, went to CSU Chico together and got married in 1976. While he was pursuing his ag degree, she received a bachelor’s of science in nursing, specializing in surgery. He quipped she clearly had the brains in the family.
The couple raised two great kids, according to McBride, noting that he was clearly blessed from a family standpoint.
He looked back on his career with no regrets. “I have known some great people in this industry and I have had some great relationships that have lasted for decades,” he said.
He also recalled that there are some bad actors as well. “I had some people who I didn’t get along with. In fact, one thing that stands out is that I witnessed a lot of women in sales departments over the years who were thrown into a hostile environment and had to put up with a lot of bull. I always made it a point to embrace everyone and appreciate what those women had to go through.”
McBride said in retirement, “my wife is going to take me to Europe. She went once and wants to go back. We’re talking about it right now. We will probably go to Italy, Switzerland and France and other parts of Central Europe. That area has a lot of history that I want to explore.”
