![]() Only the Finest Berries | |
![]() Driscoll's headquarters in Watsonville | |
Company type | Private |
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Industry |
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Founded | 1904 as Banner Berry Farm's Brand |
Founders | Dick Driscoll, Ed Reiter |
Headquarters | Watsonville, California, USA |
Key people | CEO Miles Reiter, Chairman of the Board |
Products | Strawberries, raspberries, blackberries and blueberries. |
Website | www |
Driscoll's is a California-based seller of fresh strawberries and other berries. It is a fourth-generation family business that has been in the Reiter and Driscoll families since the late 1800s. [1] In 2017, it controlled roughly one-third of the $6 billion U.S. berry market. [2] Headquartered in Watsonville, California, Driscoll's develops proprietary breeds of berries and then licenses them exclusively through approved growers. [2]
The origin of Driscoll's dates back to the late 1800s. In 1849, a butcher from Alsace settled in California and eventually farmed near Watsonville. [2] The butcher's son, J.E. "Ed" Reiter and Reiter's brother-in-law, R. F. "Dick" Driscoll, began growing strawberries in the region. [3] It was the beginning of what has been referred to as "the California strawberry gold rush." [2]
During a meeting between Thomas Loftus, Driscoll, and Reiter, the three formed a partnership to protect and promote strawberries in the Sweetbriar community in northern Shasta County, California. [4] In 1902, the partners began promoting the strawberries in San Francisco markets by wrapping every crate in paper ribbon. The marketing strategy earned the strawberry variety the name "Banner" due to the large strawberry printed on the banner of each crate. [4]
Driscoll's was officially founded in 1904, known at the time as Banner Berry Farm's Brand. [4] They secretly kept Loftus as their supplier and also planted the Banner variety of berries exclusively. The company was the sole supplier of the Banner variety until Reiter formed an outside partnership in 1916 to market the Banner Berry plant. [4] After twenty-years in business, the Banner variety was infected by the spread of a viral infection and Driscoll's began breeding and releasing new varieties of berries. The new varieties were developed by Harold Thomas and Earl Goldsmith from the University of California, Berkeley. [2]
In the early twentieth century, the strawberry market in the United States was dominated by Japanese immigrants. In 1942 during World War II, the industry nearly collapsed due to the Japanese being forced into internment camps. [2] During the war, Driscoll's was one of the few companies still planting strawberries. [2] Following World War II, Driscoll's recruited Japanese-American former prisoners upon their release from the internment camps to become sharecroppers for the company. [5] The company also began marketing under the name Driscoll Strawberry Associates. [6]
In 1944, Goldsmith and Thomas quit their university jobs and went to work for the newly formed Strawberry Institute of California after the university planned to abandon its breeding program. The company purchased seedlings and germplasm from the university that represented the life work of Goldsmith and Thomas. [2] The Strawberry Institute of California would later merge with Driscoll Strawberry Associates. [7]
In 1946, Goldsmith and Thomas crossed two university varieties which eventually became known as Z5A. The variety was known to withstand shipping and also fruited into late summer. The late harvest allowed Driscoll's to ship strawberries to retailers when other growers had none. [2] The berry was developed over a 10-year period and not released until 1957. [1] In 1966, the merger of Strawberry Institute and Driscoll Strawberry Associates was completed. [8]
Driscoll's sold mainly strawberries until the late 1980s. At that time it was approached with purchase offers from Dole, Del Monte, and Chiquita. [10] The company did not sell and instead decided to expand into other markets, including raspberries, blueberries and blackberries. [1] In the 1990s, Driscoll's created the clamshell, a one-piece container consisting of two halves joined by a hinge area which allows the structure to come together to close. [11]
In 2008 Driscoll's was one of the first two California growers to legally ship strawberries to the People's Republic of China under a program negotiated by then governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. [12] In 2008 the company was also named "business of the year" by the Pajaro Valley Chamber of Commerce and Agriculture. [13]
As of 2014, Driscoll's supports the Indigenous Interpreting+ program at Natividad Medical Center, Salinas, California, which provides medical interpreters for speakers of Indigenous languages such as Zapotec, Mixteco, and Triqui. [14] In 2015, Driscoll's announced its involvement in "Connect the Drops," a campaign for changes to California water policy. [15]
In 2015, workers and union leaders at two independent growers for Driscoll's called for boycotts against the company. [16] The same year, Driscoll's announced the adoption of global Worker Welfare standards for their independent growers and public commitment to farmworker improvements with third-party audits and assessments. [17] [18] It also announced a pilot program with Fair Trade USA to bring to market Fair Trade Certified organic strawberries and organic raspberries. [19] COO Kevin Murphy was promoted to CEO in 2015, replacing Miles Reiter, who retained his position as chairman of the board. [20]
By 2016, Driscoll's began testing to develop a robot that would pick strawberries [21] and also went through an international rebranding. [22] The company also announced a name change from Driscoll's Strawberry Associates to Driscoll's, Inc. [23]
In June 2022, Driscoll's acquired Berry Gardens Limited, a sales, packaging and distribution entity of Berry Gardens Grower Cooperative. [24] In July 2022, Driscoll's formally agreed to acquire Haygrove Africa Trading, a Sub-Saharan blueberry supplier. [25] [26]
Driscoll's has invested years in research and development to increase production yields and improve the quality of its berries. The United States berry market is valued at $9 billion annually, having grown by 40 percent over the past five years. This growth has been driven primarily by strawberries and contributions from blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries. Driscoll's has recently introduced "Sweetest Batch", a premium tier of berries that commands a price approximately 30 percent higher than standard berries. [27]
Driscoll's grows berries in 21 countries and sells them in 48. [2] It contracts with various growers to produce strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, and raspberries, both red and yellow. The berries, available in either organic or non-organic varieties, are packed in the field as they are harvested. The company has fields in California, Florida, Mexico, [28] and Australia. [29] The company's organic berries are certified organic by the USDA. [30] Driscoll's holds 60 percent of the organic strawberry market in the U.S. [10] Driscoll's claims to follow good agricultural practices for food safety, which are enforced at all contracting growers' farms, cooling and distribution facilities such as their Santa Maria, California, distribution facility. They also have a distribution facility in Dover, Florida. [31]
The company has a staff of 30 scientists "devoted solely to strawberries, manipulating evolution at nine research stations in Watsonville, Southern California, Florida, Spain, Mexico, and the U.K." [32]
A berry is a small, pulpy, and often edible fruit. Typically, berries are juicy, rounded, brightly colored, sweet, sour or tart, and do not have a stone or pit, although many pips or seeds may be present. Common examples of berries in the culinary sense are strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, white currants, blackcurrants, and redcurrants. In Britain, soft fruit is a horticultural term for such fruits.
The blackberry is an edible fruit produced by many species in the genus Rubus in the family Rosaceae, hybrids among these species within the subgenus Rubus, and hybrids between the subgenera Rubus and Idaeobatus. The taxonomy of blackberries has historically been confused because of hybridization and apomixis, so that species have often been grouped together and called species aggregates. For example, the entire subgenus Rubus has been called the Rubus fruticosus aggregate, although the species R. fruticosus is considered a synonym of R. plicatus.
The boysenberry is a cross between the European raspberry, European blackberry, American dewberry, and loganberry.
Nutri-Grain is a brand of breakfast cereal and breakfast bar made by Kellanova. In Australia and New Zealand Nutri-Grain is a breakfast cereal made from corn, oats, and wheat. The pieces are shaped like bricks.
Mentos are a brand of packaged scotch mints or mint-flavored candies sold in many stores and vending machines. First produced in 1932, they are currently sold in more than 130 countries worldwide by the Italian-Dutch corporation Perfetti Van Melle. The mints are small oblate spheroids, with a slightly hard exterior and a soft, chewy interior.
The loganberry is a hybrid of the North American blackberry and the European raspberry.
The marionberry is a cultivar of blackberry released in 1956 by the USDA Agricultural Research Service breeding program in cooperation with Oregon State University. It is named after Marion County, Oregon, where the berry was bred and tested extensively in the mid-20th century.
Starburst is the brand name of a box-shaped, fruit-flavoured soft taffy candy manufactured by The Wrigley Company, which is a subsidiary of Mars, Incorporated. Starburst has many different varieties, such as Tropical, Sour, FaveREDs, Watermelon, Very Berry, Superfruit, Summer Blast and Original.
V8 Vegetable Juice, sometimes simply referred to as V8, is a trademarked name for a number of beverage products sold worldwide that are made from eight vegetables, or a mixture of vegetables and fruits. Since 1948, the brand has been owned by the Campbell Soup Company.
Bartles & Jaymes is a flavored wine cooler and malt beverage line produced by the E & J Gallo Winery in the United States, introduced in 1985, and available in various fruit flavors.
The garden strawberry is a widely grown hybrid species of the genus Fragaria in the rose family, Rosaceae, collectively known as the strawberries, which are cultivated worldwide for their fruit. The fruit is widely appreciated for its characteristic aroma, bright red color, juicy texture, and sweetness. It is consumed in large quantities, either fresh or in such prepared foods as jam, juice, pies, ice cream, milkshakes, and chocolates. Artificial strawberry flavorings and aromas are also widely used in products such as candy, soap, lip gloss, perfume, and many others.
Hi-C is an American fruit juice-flavored drink made by the Minute Maid division of The Coca-Cola Company. It was created by Niles Foster in 1946 and released in 1947. The sole original flavor was orange.
Polar Beverages is a soft drink company based in Worcester, Massachusetts. It is a manufacturer and distributor of sparkling fruit beverages, seltzer, ginger ale, drink mixers, and spring water to customers in the United States. It is the largest independent soft-drink bottler in the United States.
Costa Group is Australia's largest horticultural company and a major supplier of produce to food retailers. The company had an IPO in 2015 and was officially listed on the Australian Securities Exchange.
Joseph Miles Reiter is an American farmer and entrepreneur, and the outgoing CEO of Driscoll's, Inc., a global agribusiness specializing in fresh year-round berry production.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to strawberries:
Banner was a variety of strawberry that grew in the northwestern United States in the early 1900s. The variety was originally named "Sweet Briar" by Thomas J. Loftus, who discovered the berry on his ranch just north of Redding, California.
Wish Farms is a Plant City, Florida based supplier of strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and blackberries. The company was established in 1922.
Berry-growing in Canada is mostly confined to its rainiest areas, although a lesser amount is grown elsewhere. Most berries are grown in southwest British Columbia, except lowbush blueberry which is almost only grown in The Maritimes. Significant amounts of strawberries are grown in southern Ontario, southern Quebec, and the southern part of the Maritimes, and smaller amounts around urban areas of the Prairies. Cranberry production has recently increased in BC and the east and as of 2016 is the second most exported berry by value at CAN$ 88,469,000. Blueberry is the most important, indeed top among all fruits in the country, by – cultivated area, 79,515 hectares – farm gate value, CAN$ 261,532,000 – and export value, CAN$ 422,441,000. Grape is third by – cultivated area, 12,480 hectares – and farm gate, CAN$ 151,093,000. Cherry is third in export value at CAN$ 82,841,000
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