MARIANI, MARK
Fruit Packing
Being
head of a family-owned business means more to Mark Mariani than just having a
portrait of his grandfather hanging in the lobby of his dried fruit packing
plant. Mariani, headquartered in San Jose, California, is an old company with a
modern approach in food production. It
was founded in 1906 by Paul Mariani, and immigrant from the Island of Vis,
Dalmatia, Croatia who staked our four acres in the rich Santa Clara Valley to
start his first orchard. His son, Paul
Jr., introduced the company’s first dried fruits in 1947. He was
the first to offer dried fruits in a clear package.
Mark
Mariani, president since 1979 was exposed to his family’s heritage- and a
family approach to business- at and early age.
He grew up on the Mariani’s sweeping Santa Clara Valley prune ranch. “i was picking prunes in diapers,” he
says. “I have always loved the business
and worked in the fields and the plants before becoming president.
In
the company’s earliest days, the lush Santa Clara Valley was the cornucopia
that provided most of the apples, plums, apricots and other fruits for Mariani
Packing Company’s production lines. But
the business branched out beyond California as modern shipping methods made it possible
for the company to shop among the world’s orchards for the best prices and
quality. Other factors played roles in
the change, particularly the coming of high-tech industries to the Santa Clara
Valley.
“My
grandfather used to say the Santa Clara Valley was good at growing two things:
apricots and babies,” Mariani says. “He
knew the babies would win out. And so he
started looking overseas for new places to buy fruit.”
His
early predictions were correct. The
Santa Clara Valley is now the Silicon Valley.
While Mariani kept its processing plant in San Jose, most of its
California growers relocated in the San Joaquin or Sacramento valleys. In a sign of the times, the Mariani family’s
prune ranch is now the site of Apple
Computers.
Grapes
and plums for raisins and prunes for the company are grown in California;
apples come from a variety of places, including Chile; apricots are imported
from Turkey; and the Mariani family has spread it’s operations to Australia,
where Mark’s brother owns a dried fruit company. Mariani Packing also produces dried bananas,
pineapple, papaya, pears and figs. All
of Mariani’s fruits however, are processed in San Jose.
The
challenge has been to preserve Paul Mariani’s trademark- a hands-on contact
with the growers. The company still
prides itself on working closely with growers to choose the best fruits and
follows strict quality control. In
1985, about a fifth of Mariani’s dried fruits were sold on the retail level;
the rest was exported of sold to bulk buyers.
Thanks
to an extensive marketing plan, the company has boosted its retail sales to 62
percent- and its total annual sales to $50 million, double over six years
ago.“We changed the whole culture at the company,” says Mariani. “We changed from a sales company to a
marketing company.”
But
much of Mariani’s success is not due to marketing or a change in business
focus. More people are simply
discovering the convenience of dried fruit and its natural goodness. Mariani’s dried fruits have no cholesterol,
are low in sodium, rich in potassium and magnesium, and provide fiber. It’s a combination that fits today’s
healthier lifestyles.
It’s
also a combination that should be around for awhile. Mark Mariani has a first cousin working his
way up in the company. And he has twin
sons at home who represent the fifth generation of a family that has its roots
deep in the fruit business.