Hello teammates and friends,
Fifty years ago, Monterey Mushrooms® was founded, and what a journey it has been.
How remarkable it is to reminisce on the past five decades, remembering my first day on a mushroom farm.
It has been the ride of a lifetime from humble beginnings as a bright-eyed, young farmer to where I am today: a proud father, grandfather, and CEO of the largest vertically integrated mushroom company in the world.
Reading those words sometimes still feels surreal. The largest vertically integrated mushroom company in the world.
It seems like just yesterday I was fiddling with spores and the next thing I know I’m surrounded by 4,000+ teammates, all around the world— cultivating and innovating the very foundation of the industry as we know it.
Our humble family-owned business has grown exponentially, just like our mushrooms. Nine facilities, working 365 days a year to produce an astounding 200 million pounds of fresh fungi annually. Each and every humble farmer, working together to reach 48 continental states, plus Mexico.
From the growers tending to each mushroom bed to our newly developed nutraceutical mushroom powders. Let’s not forget our biotech team — Amycel® and SpawnMate®— developing and patenting spawn, and producing strains and supplements for the industry. Our transportation and logistic nomads at Premier Refrigerated Transport® have also been instrumental in Monterey’s growth. There are so many talented minds behind our legacy.
While we have celebrated many accomplishments over the years, there’s no better time to recognize some of our most profound than our 50th anniversary, our biggest milestone yet.
The Monterey team was proud to pioneer the mighty Portabella, introducing it into a grocery environment in the early 1990s when white mushrooms were previously the only staple. Additionally, our Amycel has patented two Brown varieties that currently command 92% of the global market share.
Fast forward to 2011, Monterey Mushrooms was awarded the Produce Marketing Association's Marketing Impact Award for sustainable mushroom packaging. Not only do we strive to grow a wholesome product, but we also strive to do our part in keeping our planet clean in the process.
Monterey was also at the forefront of growing and distributing “High Vitamin D”, providing our customers with health benefits unparalleled to any other brand on the market.
And finally, with mushroom production companies rooted from coast to coast, our retail reach has been nothing short of astonishing. We have been able to ensure quality beyond compare since fresh Monterey Mushrooms packages are never more than a short drive away.
None of it— and I mean none of it— would have been possible without our dedicated and passionate employees, who we call teammates.
We are truly one big family that provides food for other families. It’s a great responsibility for anyone to have, and one that I am most proud of. We are enhancing people’s lives— one mushroom at a time.
Our teammates' devotion inspired us to offer our Monterey employees’ children $207,000 in scholarship awards for the 2022-23 academic year. Since its inception 31 years ago, 2,460 grants have been awarded for a program total of more than $3.6 million. Our employees invest so much in us and this is one small way we can show our appreciation and promise them as bright of a future as they’ve helped to create for our brand. As I always say, “we don’t just grow mushrooms, we grow people!”
I could not be more proud to celebrate 50 incredible years of serving the freshest fungi around, with the most amazing team I could’ve asked for. Thank you to each and every one of the Monterey family and our many partners. From the very bottom of my heart, thank you, for all that you do. I am truly thankful to share this success together.
Here’s to enhancing people’s lives for 50 years…and 50 more.
The best is yet to come.
