Sun-Maid Growers of California is an American farmer-owned cooperative of raisin growers headquartered in Fresno, California. Sun-Maid is one of the largest raisin and dried fruit processors in the world. As a cooperative, Sun-Maid is made up of approximately 850 family farmers who grow raisin grapes within a radius of the processing plant. Sun-Maid also sources dried fruit beyond this geographical area.
Sun-Maid raisins are packaged in a red box featuring the “Sun-Maid Girl” wearing a red sunbonnet and holding a tray of fresh grapes. Sun-Maid raisins are grown in the Central Valley of California, midway between Los Angeles and San Francisco, a region known for its climate perfect for growing grapes to make raisins. The grapes are picked at harvest time, usually late August to early September, and dried in the sun, either by hand-picking them and laying them on paper trays, or allowing them to dry on the vine (DOV) for mechanical harvesting. Sun-Maid ships to customers throughout the United States and more than 60 countries around the world.
Sun-Maid produces more than of natural raisins annually. Nearly half of all Sun-Maid raisins are packed for consumer sales, whether in a box, a bag, or a canister in varying sizes. The other half are sold as an ingredient to bakeries and cereal companies as raisin paste and raisin concentrate. The Thompson Seedless grape is the most popular variety used to make raisins.
Besides raisins, Sun-Maid sells a full line of dried fruit, such as figs, dates, cranberries, apples, prunes, apricots, and tropical fruits. Sun-Maid also sells yogurt-covered raisins.
The company maintains extensive brand licensing and food service operations. The Promotion in Motion Companies, Inc. under license from Sun-Maid, produces Sun-Maid raisins covered in milk chocolate.
History
In 1873, Francis T. Eisen planted an experimental vineyard of Muscat grapes on along Fancher Creek, just east of Fresno. By 1878, packaged raisins were being shipped out of the state, and by 1903, California was producing 120 million pounds of raisins a year.
Packing houses quickly became a vital link between the grower and the consumer, and dozens sprouted up across the San Joaquin Valley. Employing hundreds of immigrant people, these facilities received the sun-dried raisins from growers, which they stored, processed, packaged, and shipped throughout the United States and to countries around the world. When the transcontinental railroad was completed in 1869, farmers and immigrants from the East settled the area for the first time, and growers were able to quickly transport products from the West to new markets. In 1872, Leland Stanford brought the Central Pacific Railroad to the San Joaquin Valley, choosing a location in present-day downtown Fresno as the rail stop, Fresno Station. Depots in surrounding communities soon followed. As the railroads expanded, so too did the area surrounding Fresno Station, attracting farmers to grow agricultural products to satisfy the increasing demand from faraway markets. Many of the families suffered due to harmful chemicals that they were faced with while working on the farms.
Once raisins were established as a marketable crop which grew and dried well under the Californian sun, raisin grape-growing areas expanded rapidly in the late 19th century. The earliest successful efforts to form a cooperative business by raisin growers began in 1898. With community support, the California Associated Raisin Company was established in 1912. In 1915, the brand name Sun-Maid, coined by advertising executive E.A. Berg, was launched; and in 1918 the company opened a new facility near downtown Fresno, California.
By the early 1920s, the California Associated Raisin Company’s membership comprised 85 percent of the state’s raisin growers. The organization changed its name to Sun-Maid Growers of California in 1922 to identify more closely with its nationally recognized brand.
In 1964, further modernization and growth led to the construction of, and move to, a new facility in neighboring Kingsburg. The facility sits on more than , and is located south of Fresno. To this day, the Kingsburg plant serves as the international headquarters of Sun-Maid Growers of California, but the corporate headquarters is located in Fresno, California.
In 2012, Sun-Maid celebrated its 100th anniversary as a grower cooperative.