SALINAS, CA - The aspirations of a company like Church Brothers Farms puts into perspective the growth it has already achieved. As the provider continues to look ahead at growing its retail business and solidifying its space in the foodservice sector, I turned to Brian Church, Chief Executive Officer, to learn about what’s next.
Brian first tells me about a year-round operation in Northern Mexico that supports some of the company’s high-labor items.
“I want to grow that on both the foodservice and retail sides, so we can meet more of our customers’ needs out of there. We also really want to build out the facility we purchased in Salinas earlier this year and take the company to the next level in terms of becoming a one-stop shop.”
One of Brian’s consistent goals is building upon the vision that his father and uncle had before him. In order to be the best one-stop shop that it can be, Church Brothers Farms will further focus on consolidation, quality, food safety, speed, and loading.
Another element that has helped the company develop this one-stop-shop element is its attention to vertical integration.
“Getting vertically integrated on harvesting enabled us to stabilize our labor supply and control the quality of the product, because the crews work for us,” Brian notes. “We have all of our own equipment, our own sanitation, our own food safety rules that are monitored by internal people. Instead of all those things being segmented, they’re done and controlled by us, which allows us to run as lean as we possibly can and still get the quality that we need to get.”
During the pandemic, Church Brothers Farms diversified its product portfolio further into retail, growing its value-added footprint in particular. Expanding in the value-added space is possible due to the expansion in Mexico, which helps the company diversify its supply.
“We want our customers to feel secure that we’re going to have the items they want,” Brian says. “Being in Mexico, we’re able to get the high-labor items out of the United States and pass those savings on to our customers.”
With many plans in the works, Church Brothers Farms continues to deliver on the one-stop-shop promise that Steve and Tom Church made when the company was founded.
