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Our Story

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 “Our mission is bigger than any perceived competition. We are all working toward the same goal -- to provide healthy, quality berries to as many people as we possibly can.”

– Bill “Monc” Moncovich

about_us_pics_2017.pngMore than 35 years ago, our founders, cousins Pat Riordan and Bill “Monc” Moncovich teamed up with childhood best friend, Frank Saveria, and began to sell strawberries from a simple trailer in Watsonville, CA. Years later, we’ve developed a family of people who share our passion for berries. From planting, growing, harvesting and shipping, it takes every single person here at California Giant to get our berries from our farms to your table.

We understand that nurturing people isn't much different than cultivating our prized strawberries, blueberries, blackberries and raspberries.

That's why everyone in our company is treated like family - because to us, they are.

Our History

  1. 1970
  2. 1983
  3. 1993
  4. 1998
  5. 2004
  6. 2006
  7. 2010
  8. 2013
  9. 2015
  10. 2017
  11. 2018

  1. 1970

    Bill Moncovich, Frank Saveria, and Pat Riordan joined together to sell strawberries from a trailer in Watsonville, CA. That old trailer still sits on our property to remind us of where we started and how we got here.

  2. 1983

    The founders incorporated as New West Fruit Corp., shipping strawberries from Watsonville and Santa Maria under the brand “California Giant” since our customers came to expect the biggest and best berries from us.

  3. 1993

    The company entered the Oxnard, CA region, which allowed us to provide a year-round supply of strawberries.

  4. 1998

    Our founders officially adopted ‘California Giant’ as the company name and sharpened the focus of being a year-round supplier of strawberries. Our family grew to a small number of passionate growers that shared a focus on quality.

  5. 2004

    California Giant began to grow additional berries, specifically blueberries, to expand the focus to a full line of both organically grown and conventionally grown berries due to increased demand from consumers like you.

  6. 2006

    In 2006, California Giant started growing raspberries and blackberries for consumers like you!

  7. 2010

    We opened an office in Chile and worked with local growers to provide a more abundant supply of California Giant blueberries.

  8. 2013

    California Giant established a Mexican subsidiary company to contribute high-quality production of strawberries and blackberries from an expanding sourcing region.

  9. 2015

    Giving back to our employees, customers, communities and causes has always been a defining trait of our company culture. In 2015, we launched The California Giant Foundation, devoted to affect positive change in:

    • Childhood obesity and school nutrition
    • Hunger and food insecurity
    • Community support and development
    • Prevention awareness

  10. 2017

    We expanded future growing regions and acreage for fresh raspberries to increase our availability of this consumer favorite.

  11. 2018

    For the first time in California Giant history, we began to offer a year-round supply of all four berry types! This milestone—which requires grower collaboration in multiple regions of several countries—would be impossible without the dedication and sacrifices by the entire California Giant team, all of whom work tirelessly to ensure consumers can expect the same high-quality berries every day of the year.

While our farms have grown from a small local strawberry shipper to an international berry company, our mission and values remain the same. Regardless of where our berries are grown, we have the same passion for our people, our product, our planet and growing #everybodysberry with pride and lots of love!

Our mission is to deliver the best quality berries and give back to our communities
as we stay focused on our mission in all that we do, we maintain core values committed to:

Community
Quality
Philanthropy
Fairness In All We Do
Mutual Respect

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