Case Studies Region: West

Ask Nate Offenberg the reason for his company’s success, and he’ll says it’s more than just the quality of the product Pacific Farms delivers. “For any family-owned business with a global footprint, strong relationships with partners around the world are just as important,” he tells Terra Firma. Pacific Farms, which has corporate offices in Reno, […]

When Chad Yakobson founded Crooked Stave, he wasn’t just trying to make good beer. He was trying to prove something. While most brewers had spent decades removing Brettanomyces in beer, he’d spent years studying how to use the yeast species. As laid out in his master’s thesis, he concluded that when left in, Brettanomyces creates […]

Picking from the produce section of a grocery store is often a gamble, especially if fruit is concealed by peels or rinds. As the co-owner of Turlock Fruit, Stephen Smith hates it when someone buys a melon only to cut it open and find pale, unripe flesh, which is common with cantaloupe and honeydew melon. […]

When gophers munch on grapevine roots and trunks at the California properties entrusted to Redwood Empire Vineyard Management, co-owner and viticulturist Tyler Klick doesn’t resort to poisons that pose a secondary threat to predators. Instead, he sets up nesting boxes for barn owls. One of those predators might sink its talons into a couple thousand […]

Finally, it’s lunchtime and you’ve decided to go a healthier route today. However, when you open your bag of mixed greens, it doesn’t have croutons, cheese or dressing to liven it up. Here was a gap in the condiment supply chain, Leslie Surber thought—and it needed to be fixed. That’s among the reasons she started […]

Going out to eat with children can be challenging, especially if they’re picky eaters. Darden Coors had been seeing this at MAD Greens, the fast casual restaurant chain where she’s CEO, and wanted to offer more than salads. Now, with macaroni and cheese on the menu, she’s hoping the restaurant will appeal to a wider […]

Growing up, Luis Castaneda remembers his family hosting large gatherings where his mom would cook for 80 to 100 guests. He’d be in the kitchen as she moved between the stove, the counter, the sink and the fridge, mesmerized by how his mother managed to do so much at once. Later, he’d join the guests […]

On March 19, 2020, Superior Grocers President Richard Wardwell was driving across town to visit a store in Santa Ana, California when he heard the news that Gov. Gavin Newsom was issuing a stay-at-home order due to rising cases of COVID-19. With the mandate going into effect within 72 hours, there was plenty to do […]

Jim Floyd isn’t descended from the Norwegian founders of Hammer & Wikan, the unique grocer and commercial retailer in tiny Petersburg, Alaska. Nevertheless, today’s owners seemed to recognize at least a spiritual connection when hiring Floyd as general manager and chief executive officer in November 2019. “When they said, ‘welcome to the family’ it sounded […]

Under other circumstances, Nancy Coupal might still be in Venezuela. Though born in Berkeley, California, the South American country was her home for 30 years, she having moved there during the late 1970s with her husband, Jean Paul Coupal, after they graduated UCLA, she with a bachelor’s in psychology and a master’s in public health. […]