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Company Profile
The Ready Pac Mission StatementWe will provide the highest quality fresh-cut produce on a national basis. Our valued associates are innovative and driven to exceed the expectations of our customers and consumers.
Ready Pac Core Values:
- Quality: We believe in quality first and continuous improvement.
- Honesty: We are ethical, open and candid.
- Inspirational: We are an innovative world-class organization inspired to succeed through teamwork and growth
- Trustworthy: We are reliable, loyal and respectful with regard to our fellow associates, community and environment.
- Profitability: We believe that all associates, customers, suppliers and shareholders should gain from the Ready Pac experience.
Ready Pac at a Glance- Ready Pac has been a leader in providing innovative and premium fresh-cut produce for nearly 40 years.
- We offer one of the broadest product ranges to retail and foodservice customers across North America, including fresh-cut salads, complete meals, fruits, and vegetables.
- All of our products are thoroughly washed and ready to eat.
- Our unique packaging and processing provides premium quality and exceeds industry standards on food safety.
- Our produce contains no preservatives.
Ready Pac is a market leader in the supply of fresh-cut produce to retail grocery chains, mass-merchandisers and foodservice organizations throughout North America. Every day, millions of families in homes across the U.S. and Canada rely on Ready Pac products to enhance their meals while saving them time.
Humble Beginnings
In 1969, Dennis Gertmenian founded Ready Pac, locating its first facility in Pasadena, California. The idea for Ready Pac arose in a corner of Dennis' father's produce warehouse. While his father was away on vacation, Dennis received an urgent request from his father's largest account to provide ready-to-eat salads instead of whole produce. Determined not to lose the business, Dennis quickly bought cutting boards, French knives, and a bathtub in which he could carefully wash the produce. Three days later, he delivered exactly what the customer wanted. And Ready Pac was born.
Salad DaysSoon, the bathtub disappeared and modern equipment was installed. Ready Pac expanded from foodservice to make its retail debut in 1978, experiencing tremendous growth. In 1990, Ready Pac partnered with leaders in European fresh-cut produce processing and packaging technology, which led to the introduction of its popular European-Style salad blends, combining the quality of restaurant salads with the convenience of ready-to-serve. Representing the pinnacle of product quality and packaging appeal, Ready Pac's European-Style salad blends helped pave the way for a whole new array of upscale salad varieties that have now become the largest segment of packaged salads in the U.S.
A Tradition of Innovation and Growth
Innovation is a hallmark of the Ready Pac tradition. From the patented process for Aqua Pac® vegetables developed in the late '70's, to nutritious, delicious Microwave Spinach first introduced in the 1990's, to the one-of-a-kind complete meal Ready Pac® Bistro™ Bowl Salad, unique products, packaging and processes have kept Ready Pac in the forefront of the industry and led to significant growth.
Much of Ready Pac's growth is attributed to Dennis Gertmenian's keen ability to initiate key partnerships and strategic acquisitions. Celebrating the turn of the century in 2000, Ready Pac entered into three strategic partnerships to accommodate future growth, teaming with OBIM Fresh-Cut Fruit of Fort Worth, Texas, Missa Bay of Swedesboro, New Jersey, and the establishment of a new International Fresh-Cut Produce Research and Development Consortium. That same year Ready Pac deepened its commitment to the fresh-cut fruit segment with the development of a dedicated fruit processing facility within its Irwindale operation. In 2004, Ready Pac completed its merger with Tanimura & Antle's Salad Time value-added business, combining two of the top ranking fresh-cut produce companies. The merger provided Ready Pac with an immediate way to serve customers in the Midwest and Southeast regions, and thus provide a broader base to supply fresh-cut products across North America.
In 2006 and 2007, Ready Pac completed a $30,000,000 expansion program that enhanced the Irwindale and Florence plants. Also in 2007, Missa Bay opened plant number four, which encompasses 140,000 square feet of state-of-the-art food processing equipment utilizing the most advanced food safety programs in the world.
Today, Ready Pac has one of the premier fresh-cut industry supply networks, with key geographically dispersed plants of scale that service retail and foodservice customers with premium quality fresh-cut salads, fruits, vegetables, and complete meals, made possible by its unique USDA certification program. In total, our plants and partner facilities have well over a million square feet of plant operations. Dennis Gertmenian, the founder of the company nearly 4 decades ago, is the Chief Executive Officer and works everyday along side the nearly 3,000 Ready Pac associates to provide our valued customers the highest quality produce and remain an innovation leader in the industry.
Community CommitmentReady Pac is dedicated to giving back to the community through it's support of The City of Hope, the California Community Foundation and food donations. It also sponsors Ready Pac Kids to Camp, Inc., a non-profit organization that raises money through private donations and a company matching fund to send underprivileged children to summer camp each year.
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