Welcome to the Family

We operate our Fresh Pack cannery the way I learned to cook from my Italian mother and my Italian grandmothers, using the finest, freshest ingredients grown nearby. That is why all our tomatoes are grown within two hours of our cannery by local farm families who have often cultivated the same land for generations.

There are two ways to make tomato products. For superior flavor, we insist on packing 100% of our products directly from fresh tomatoes in just 70 to 75 days each summer.

Other packers cut costs (and corners) by
Re-Manufacturing tomato products year-round from industrial concentrate. With 3 to 4 times more flavor-damaging heat, this cheaper process leaves Re-Manufactured products tasting flat and overprocessed.

We believe that “What Gets Measured Gets Done.” That is why during our summer Fresh Pack season, we have three times more Quality Control technicians to measure the quality of each product “in-line” as it is made. Fine-tuning our products moment by moment further maximizes their consistency can after can, year after year.

“You Can’t Make Good Wine from Bad Grapes!” As a lifelong farmer, that was one of my Grandfather Amerigo’s favorite sayings. And it is why we insist on getting our tomatoes from the best growers in the state. We are the only California packer to pay bonuses for tomatoes based on their superior canning quality. Paying more for superior quality attracts superior growers – a true win-win.

Back in the ’90s, Stanislaus led the fight to expose processors who were silently switching to the cheaper “from concentrate” process without telling customers. That is when our “Packed From Fresh Tomatoes, Not From Concentrate” symbol was born!

“In the Race for Superior Quality, There Is No Finish Line.” This Stanislaus motto rings especially true to those of us who embrace hard work, never being satisfied with the status quo, and loving great food. Our dedicated Tomato Team calls it “raising the bar.” My Grandfather Amerigo simply called it “getting ahead.” That is why we are proud to unconditionally guarantee the superior quality of our products, day after day, can after can, year after year!

Being a farming family ourselves, we leave nothing to chance when it comes to helping our loyal growers succeed. Our dedicated Field Managers walk the land year-round, help growers assess crop health, and personally monitor each field so we can harvest at perfect maturity. This helps our growers further improve quality, while guaranteeing us the best “raw product” in the industry.

I remember watching my Grandmother Teresa drop a few leaves of basil into each jar as she home-canned her own tomatoes. Today at Stanislaus, the fresh basil we hand-place into many of our cans is locally grown for us by another Italian-American farming family. Similarly, for mellow sweetness, we start several prepared sauces by sautéing fresh onions in fresh olive oil the same way my Nonna Teresa always did. When it comes to cooking, there are no short cuts to superior flavor. And in our family, we learned to do things “the right way” or not do them at all.

The better we know our independent restaurateur customers, the better we can help them succeed. To understand how they use our products every day, our Cucina provides a learning space where we can cook or bake in a variety of oven types.

Time and Temperature Are the Enemies of Fresh Tomato Flavor. The longer tomatoes are heated or the higher the temperature, the more fresh aroma they lose and the more “cooked” they taste. Because our goal is maximizing vine-fresh flavor, we constantly strive to further reduce our processing Time and Temperature! Keeping our equipment absolutely “state of the art” takes investment. But our quality- oriented customers would not have it any other way.

Like fine wine grapes, the exact flavor of fresh tomatoes varies naturally from field to field. At harvest, some incoming loads are a bit sweeter than optimal, others a bit less. Processors who ignore this reality make inconsistent products. We HATE inconsistency. That is why we are the only California packer that flavor-blends our incoming fresh tomatoes (like fine wine grapes) based on each load’s precise sugar/acid ratio for perfect consistency and balance.

Our success ultimately depends on our customers’ success. So since 1990, we have published La Trattoria, our quarterly newsletter to help successful independents share their proven business-building ideas with other independent restaurateurs.