Original Article Here By: Laura Place

Original Article Here by Jordan Okumura

SANTA MARIA, CA – The next generation of fresh produce consumers will be primed to build their healthy eating shopping lists if Gold Coast Packing has anything to say about it. As a leading grower, shipper, and processor of fresh produce, the company is taking its impact to the playground and launching its first-annual after-school program, Fantastic Fridays, to bring fresh vegetables to children throughout California’s Santa Maria Valley.

Crystal Chavez, Marketing Coordinator, Gold Coast Packing“Our goal for this program is to get fresh vegetables directly into kids’ hands, and we wanted to do it before the weekend to ensure they could take product home and share with their family,” said Crystal Chavez, Marketing Coordinator. “We understand not every child has access to fresh produce at home, so we hope that through Fantastic Fridays, we are able to give kids healthy options that will lead to a healthier lifestyle as they grow.”

These efforts help build the demand for fresh produce for the benefit of all—including the retail customer.

Through this brilliant program, Gold Coast personally delivers, on average,200 to 250 pounds of fresh produce to schools in the Santa Maria Bonita School District and the Guadalupe Union School District through Fantastic Fridays. According to a press release, on top of providing enough produce for the children to take home, Gold Coast shares vegetable trivia to educate this impactful generation on how crops such as broccoli and cauliflower are grown locally in the Santa Maria’s burgeoning growing regions.

As a leading grower, shipper, and processor of fresh produce, Gold Coast Packing is taking its impact to the playground and launching its first-annual after-school program, Fantastic Fridays, to bring fresh vegetables to children throughout California’s Santa Maria Valley

“It is great to see the kids so excited to learn about the products that are grown right here in Santa Maria,” Chavez reflected. “They see the fields all across the valley, so to be able to educate students about how the most common produce items are grown and how it gets from the field to their school salad bar or their own dinner table is awesome!”

Gold Coast has visited nine school sites within the two school districts with support from the local YMCA and Boys & Girls Club, and has donated 1,434 pounds of fresh vegetables and shared fresh produce education with nearly 800 students since the Fantastic Fridays program began in November 2019.

Gold Coast plans to continue Fantastic Fridays for years to come and roll out several programs with the local Boys & Girls Club and YMCA during the summer months. So, stay tuned as we bring you more on the efforts of produce suppliers that will surely pay it forward.

Original Article Here by Andrea Allen

The last two weeks have been filled with holiday celebrations, but for Gold Coast packing we celebrated all of 2018 as it marked our 40th anniversary. To commemorate our 40th anniversary we unveiled a new logo, and had a 40th  anniversary celebration for all of our staff.

Gold Coast Packing was founded in 1978 by Ron Burk and Bob Espinola. The two longtime friends took a few risks and started the business with hot-house tomatoes and then eventually moved to Strawberries a staple in the Santa Maria Valley. The Western Vegetable and Strawberry grower grew over the years to include broccoli, cauliflower, cilantro and spinach and much, much more. Gold Coast’s product offerings has grown to include both conventional and organic vegetables and herbs.

Throughout 2018 it was fun showing off our new logo. We had banners made for our booths at various industry events and we had some mugs and notebooks made with our new logo to hand out to our customers throughout the year. We can all use a little swag to celebrate our big milestone! During the annual PMA Fresh Summit in Orlando we  celebrated with 40th Anniversary “cake” at our booth. Well it was more like Cauliflower Cupcakes made with our very own Caulifornia™ Snow. They were super delicious and a great way to share with everyone how you can add veggies to any plate!

In early November we had our Anniversary party. It was held at Costa De Oro Winery, a winery that is owned by Gold Coast’s Owners Ron and Bob. All Gold Coast Employees spent the afternoon sipping’ amazing wine, eating some delicious food and reminiscing on the last four decades of the company. During the event Ron and Bob shared memories of the early days of Gold Coast and the many adventures the two have shared since starting this partnership 40 years ago. It was so great to hear how the two decided to start the company and all lessons and triumphs the two have had while running this growing business. To commemorate the 40 years each employee was gifted a Costa De Oro wine bottle with the Gold Coast 40th Anniversary Logo engraved into it.

Great things are already in the works for 2019 here at Gold Coast and we are excited to see where the next 40 years will take us!

One goal that we had here at Gold Coast for 2018 was to be more involved with our community. We knew we wanted to get involved locally but we also wanted to help the next generation of veggie lovers. We wanted to include youth programs when we got behind any local projects. This year we teamed up with the Santa Maria Valley YMCA and Local 4-H groups.

As we joined up with new groups, we wanted to make sure to keep our long-standing relationship with the Santa Barbara County Foodbank intact. Our company makes several donations to our local Foodbank each year. In May we were honored with a Gratitude Award from the Foodbank. Gold Coast was given the award for donating more than 30,000 pounds of fresh produce. It is our goal to continue donating to our local Foodbank and helping the hundreds of families the Foodbank serves.

Summertime means fair time and that means the local 4-H and FFA clubs are busy prepping their animals for show. In June we were visited by a group of 4-H kids, they presented their projects in hopes that we would support them during the Santa Barbara County Fair and live auction. It was great to meet this group of talented kids and see what the next generation of farmers looks like.

During the summer we joined forces with the Santa Maria Valley YMCA. Karl and Crystal stopped by the Y during Cooking Camp week.  Our team taught the campers how to make Grilled Cheese Sandwiches but with a carb alternative… Cauliflower! What better way to get kids excited about vegetables and cooking then showing them some healthy options? The campers were quizzed on vegetable facts and shown cooking videos featuring our favorite veggies. Then we all rolled up our sleeves and made Cauliflower Grilled Cheese. Those that weren’t fans of the white cruciferous veggie were soon won over by the bread-free sandwich.

In mid-November we ventured back to the Santa Maria Valley YMCA this time to hang out with the preschoolers. This tiny bunch was so much fun.  The little ones shared their favorite veggies as well as their least favorite. We whipped up a batch of Cauliflower Mash for the Y’s Thanksgiving Feast and each preschooler made their own serving of the mash to eat during snack time. During the feast each child got to share the recipe with their families. This will now be a Fall tradition with the YMCA Preschool!

Here at Gold Coast we believe that children should be taught to love vegetables early on in life and if we can help, we will be doing more projects like these in the coming year. We are already working with local organizations on new ways to elevate our community in 2019.

As 2018 comes to a close we are reminiscing on all the good times we had at industry events throughout this year. Our team was busy traveling around meeting customers and networking with potential customers in various parts of the country throughout 2018.

Our team took on Southern Exposures in Tampa, Florida in early March and then we headed back to Florida in April for the Women’s Fresh Perspectives Conference. Crystal and Natali took on Miami while networking with some great produce gals and listening to fantastic speakers including, Molly Fletcher, Colette Carlson and Gretchen Carlson. The ladies “Owned It” and are looking forward to the 2019 Conference.

Later in April John and Karl headed North to Vancouver and the CPMA Conference where it was all about Live Healthy and Eat Free! John and Karl enjoyed walking the show floor and meeting with customers. Shortly after our team headed to Palm Desert for the West Coast Produce Expo. Our team enjoyed meeting everyone who stopped by our booth. Those who stopped by got to sample our new Caulifornia™ Riced Vegetable Side Dish line. Our team had a great time in the desert.

June sent our team to Chicago for the United Fresh Conference. Early in July we headed to the happiest place on earth… that’s right Disneyland for the Fresh Produce and Floral Council SoCal Expo. This was such a fun event we are already looking forward to the 2019 show! Then July took us to Monterey. First for the Organic Produce Summit and then for the PMA Foodservice Conference. PMA Foodservice is always a fun show for the Gold Coast team. We have been a part of this conference since it originated and it’s always the perfect place to show off our newest items. This year we served up our new Sunny Superfood Salad. Our colorful blend was a hint with those that stopped by our booth. Our portion packs also got a lot of attention from those walking the show floor. We can’t wait to show you what we are working on for PMA Foodservice 2019!

We wrapped up the year at PMA Fresh Summit in Orlando. Our team had a great time at this show. The show floor was bustling with activity on each day of the expo. We celebrated our 40^th Anniversary while at PMA. We served up Anniversary cupcakes featuring one of our favorite vegetables. Yes! We had chocolate and churro flavored cupcakes made with our Caulifornia™ Snow Cauliflower Rice. The sweet veggie filled treat was a hit with everyone that stopped by our booth.

2018 was filled with very informative and fun filled industry events. The Gold Coast team is already looking forward to what excitement 2019 will bring, see you all soon.