Hollister - Spurred by a robust demand for ready-to-eat salads, Pride of San Juan, the largest agricultural employer in the county, is expanding their processing facility to better prepare itself for the next few years of business. The San Juan Bautista-based company began construction in November to add over 200,000 square feet to their processing, loading and greenhouse facilities in response to increased demand for their products.
"There is bigger and bigger demand for our product all over America," said Pete Trentz, chief financial officer of the company. "We have the opportunity to do far more farming than we ever envisioned."
Pride of San Juan's products are sold all over North America and the Caribbean, made even more popular by the recent partnering with TV chef Emeril Lagasse, whose face graces the company's salad mixes, herbs and packs of gourmet items such as arugula, radicchio and edible flowers.
When the expansion is complete in April, several roads leading into the facility will be paved and widened and five loading docks built. To correspond with the continuous increase in sales, the company plans to hire more seasonal workers, said owner Stephen Wyrick, 36, who founded Pride of San Juan in 1995.
"We could have well over 600 people for the season," said Wyrick. The season usually begins in April and lasts through the end of November.
Pride of San Juan has grown an average of 20 percent each year and is doing "extremely well," said Joe Feldman, vice president of marketing and sales.
When Wyrick started the company nine years ago, he farmed alone on 13 acres. Today, over 500 employees farm approximately 15,000 acres in peak season in San Juan Valley and Yuma, where the company's second facility is located.
"Our success is based on the phenomenal growth of spring mix in America," said Feldman. "It used to be a fancy thing but has now become more mainstream."
Wyrick is a fifth-generation farmer in San Benito County and was born and raised in Hollister. He lived in the Bay Area for a time, but came back in 1993 to open his business. Although Pride of San Juan would not release its annual sales figures, the company comprises a significant amount of the county's $25 million a year lettuce crop, according to the San Benito County Agricultural Commissioner's office.
Pride of San Juan also prides itself on sustainable farming and uses recycled water in their fields - the first agricultural business in California to do so with the approval of the regional water board, said Trentz.
In addition to quality of product, the secret behind the lettuce grower's success is the positive company atmosphere that encourages growth and promotions, said Wyrick.
"There are great opportunities to become supervisor," he said.
The young entrepreneur has no specific plans over the next several years except continual expansion, which he hopes to fuel with the same passion that gave birth to his company almost a decade ago.
"Some people play golf for their hobby. Farming is mine," he said.
Karina Ioffee covers education for the Free Lance. Reach her at (831)637-5566 ext. 335 or kioffee@freelancenews.com
Karina Ioffee Staff Writer
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