If the Business Journal’s snapshot of local food and beverage suppliers reflected an average Orange Countian’s food intake, the three largest ranked companies would, by revenue, provide 75% of our diet, which would consist mainly of butter, bourbon and Big Macs.
• No. 1, Golden State Foods Corp. in Irvine, makes and delivers meat and other products for McDonald’s Corp.; No. 2, Ventura Foods LLC in Brea, makes sauces and spreads; No. 3, Young’s Market Co. in Tustin, conveys a selection of wine, spirits and beer—a glossy catalog on its website details vodka, tequila, absinthe and American whiskey, among other offerings—to 10 Western states.
Our Big Food combined for nearly $14 billion in revenue on a list of 28 companies that brought in $18.6 billion.
The rest, the other 25, range from bread bakers to candy makers and—for the health-conscious among us—an acai berry-based product line and a (good) bacteria-laced yogurt cultivator.
Paved With Gold
Our cutoff this year was $1 million in revenue.
Tops again: Golden State Foods, run by OC 500 member and Chief Executive Mark Wetterau, whose team grew revenue more than 12% to $6.9 billion. Wetterau’s family and ancesters have been involved in food companies for nearly a century.
Golden State’s size and modality—ingredients and trucking make up a major part of its work—put it in a place where progress can be affected by global concerns.
A recent Wall Street Journal article explored food giants’ woes in—you guessed it—higher ingredient and shipping costs. General Mills Inc., Campbell Soup Co., Kellogg Co., Conagra Brands Inc., Hershey Co., Mondelez International Inc., and J.M. Smucker Co. were among those hit by food sector-borne maladies.
Golden State runs its own trucks, and it hired an ex-Pepsico executive to streamline and expand its $1 billion Quality Custom Distribution Inc. subsidiary, which delivers to food outlets not named McDonald’s, such as Starbucks, Chick-fil-A, and Wendy’s. QCD has its own fleet, as well, which helps control costs.
Milk With Benefits
Companies that our research or estimates suggest are already affected by macro-trends in food include several U.S. and Americas’ units of Japan-based food conglomerates.
• We estimate flat revenue for No. 16, Morinaga America Inc., and No.18, Ezaki Glico USA Corp., both in Irvine, makers of niche candy items—Hi-Chew fruit chews and chocolate-coated or infused biscuit sticks, respectively.
Amid the current food frenzy for freshness and buying local, we’re tagging the two as not unaffected.
Each is likely to weather the storms—their parents bring in $2 billion to $3 billion in global revenue—and both have made recent moves to keep growing—a contest to precede a new flavor introduction at Morinaga, and Ezaki buying a Berkeley-based chocolate maker.
• Meanwhile, the Japanese giant that owns No. 21, Yakult USA Inc. in Fountain Valley, said Americas sales fell 14%, so we’ve taken it down a notch while accounting for higher prices here compared with Brazil and Mexico. The yogurt-like product has likely been stymied by consumer preferences for Greek yogurt and other recent trends.
• We say No. 4, Maruchan Inc. in Irvine, though, is doing fine at $1.1 billion in revenue: As long as there are college students there will be ramen noodle revenue.
Comes With Toy
On the other end of that road that starts at $1 million is Ellia Kassoff and Leaf Brands LLC in Newport Beach. His candy and cookie distributor—extreme-nostalgia brand Hydrox is the flagship product—hit $1.5 million this year.
Leaf’s parent company is Kassoff’s Strategic Marks LLC, which buys moribund brands—“zombie trademarks”—and moves to make some of the castoffs going concerns.
This includes the occasional quixotic, headline-inducing floating of even bigger plans, such as when Kassoff said this month he’d resurrect the KB Toys retail brand, which he acquired the rights to last year.
He wrote on LinkedIn, “With the demise of Toys R Us … we have now accelerated our (KB Toys) business plan and hope to have our stores up and running by Christmas.”
Cheese With That
Between $1.5 million and $6.9 billion, we may’ve missed one or three companies—it happens—and there’s plenty of room for newer players that didn’t report revenue that cracked our food floor.
Modern Pop Inc. in Laguna Beach, Infinity Sauces in Fullerton, and Massey Honey Co. in Yorba Linda didn’t hit the list this year but have room to grow.
iSnak Corp. in Irvine recently entered Bristol Farms with cultured dairy product Yooli Cremes in three flavors: honey lemon zest, strawberry and vanilla.
