When Olli Salumeria scored an agreement putting its products in Whole Foods stores across the country, there was no question the salami-maker would need to expand beyond its 15,000-square-foot plant in Virginia. But where?
Weather was an important factor. Because the company cures its meats the old-fashioned way, hanging them to dry months longer than its domestic competitors, it wanted somewhere with relatively dry air. California beat Virginia hands down.
Warehousing prices and logistics played into the decision, as well. But when it came down to it, family ties tipped the scale: Co-founder Olli Colmignoli chose to set up shop in Oceanside largely because his sister lives nearby.
Stories like that, in which individual circumstances combine with good local conditions, have conspired to create a growing food cluster in North County. Whether their arrival was guided more by chance or intention, manufacturers of goods such as juice and salsa report various benefits to being located in an area known for its pharmaceuticals, metalwork and plastics.
Strategic Location
Some of the same strengths that made North County a good place to make non-edible products — convenient freeway access, for one thing — also lend themselves to food production, said Matt Sanford, director of economic development at the San Diego Regional Economic Development Corp. and program manager of Innovate78, a five-city business recruitment initiative centered around state Route 78.
“The making of food … is essentially the same, just with a different set of ingredients, if you will,” he said.
Building a food production facility in North County gives a manufacturer relatively quick access to the Southern California market — quicker, anyway, than areas farther south, where traffic slows north-bound deliveries, Sanford noted.
An Easy Choice
A strong quality of life and available workforce also make the area attractive for starting a food business or expanding one, he and others noted. But as Olli Salumeria’s case illustrates, other random factors contribute just as decisively.
Having started in Virginia in 2010, the salami-maker initially considered expanding there. Doing so might have made more sense in a logistics sense, as three-quarters of the product now made in Oceanside has to be shipped across the country to a distribution center in Maryland.
But the other 25 percent stays west of the Rockies, Chief Operating Officer Rondall Powers explained. After looking at the Otay Mesa area, the company opted for a 90,000-square-foot facility in Oceanside. Part of the reason was that local officials were so easy to work with.
“Oceanside was the most receptive and most agreeable and easy to work with at the start,” Powers said.
Catering to Workers
One of Olli Salumeria’s neighbors, Suja Juice, made the same decision for different reasons.
The company, focused on cold-pressed, all-organic fruit juice, was founded in La Jolla in 2012 but operated out of a 400-square-foot ice-closet atop a downtown San Diego night club.
Sourcing many of its fresh ingredients from Brawley, in the Imperial Valley, Suja expanded in 2013 to a 20,000-square-foot facility in Miramar. It expanded again to a facility twice that size in Miramar. But after a while, even that wasn’t enough.
Chief Marketing Officer Heather MacNeil Cox said Oceanside had a 170,000-square-foot space Suja required. Plus, most of the company’s employees live in North County, and she said they wanted to maintain their lifestyle without having to make long commutes.
One benefit to staying local is being close to other food manufacturers in the area, Cox said.
“We love sharing best practices with other like companies,” she said.
Close to Management
One company it keeps in contact with is Perfect Bar LLC, a food manufacturer that, while operationally based in Miramar, is setting up a new headquarters in Sorrento Valley.
In light of North County’s geographical advantages, Perfect Bar would probably have a production there “if we had to do it over again,” CEO and founder Bill Keith said. But the company has invested in so much equipment in Miramar since 2009 that it would cost too much money to move, he said.
It recently began work on a 9,000-square-foot facility in Sorrento Valley that will bring together its executive staff and middle management, which until now have been spread out because of the way its Miramar plant developed. It selected the site in Sorrento Valley, Keith said, because the area is central to its senior employees.
Remaining in San Diego County has been beneficial for recruiting purposes, Keith said. Outside job candidates understand that if things don’t work out, they may find other opportunities in the area.
“They know that if they take the jump, the leap to San Diego, there are other options here,” he said.
Entry By Acquisition
The story of Sabra Dipping Co. LLC’s presence in North County is somewhat serendipitous. The White Plains, N.Y.-based company was looking a few years ago to enter the salsa category, having already established a strong national presence in hummus.
Sabra came across California Creative Foods, a maker of fresh salsas located in Oceanside. It acquired the company in 2011, and still employs 80 people at the facility.
“For us, the location offers close proximity and excellent access to fresh ingredients, like tomatoes, for our line of bruschetta and salsas (soon to include organic) made with chunky cut vegetables for a homemade flavor,” Jeff Connelly, manager of Sabra’s Oceanside plant, said by email.
Organic Transition
Mamma Chia, a maker of juices and organic foods, came to North County by way of Bonsall, where founder and CEO Janie Hoffman invented the company’s earliest products in the kitchen of her small farm.
When it came time to seek out space for a proper headquarters, she wanted to remain part of what she sees as Southern California’s active, health-conscious culture. But more specifically, she wanted to be near the beach.
The company settled on a 3,000-square-foot office and warehouse just west of Interstate 5 in Carlsbad.
“We looked at other locations near Palomar Airport that were less expensive; however, we thought it was more fitting to be close to the coast since we are promoting an active, healthy lifestyle,” she said by email. “As we are less than a mile from the ocean, our employees can take advantage of that proximity, sometimes cruising down to the beach during lunch on our beach cruisers.”
The easy freeway access addressed a more practical concern: commuting to and from work.
“A strong advantage of North County is that we are able to draw great candidates to our Carlsbad headquarters from San Diego, Orange County and even south Los Angeles (County),” she noted.
