CALIFORNIA DIRECTOR PROFILE
Dominic J. Muzzi CEO/COO Muzzi Family Farms, LLC Moss Landing, CA
Member Since 1984 | Director Since 2018
Ag Career Was Always On Tap
CATCHING THE FARMING BUG: When Dominic Muzzi was six years old, his father put him on top of a tractor and let him drive it. From that day on, he knew he would take up the family business and specialty agriculture would be his career choice. He worked in the family farming operation throughout his youth and after one year at Hartnell College in Salinas, he joined the company full time in 1983 at the age of 19. Today, Dominic works alongside his sister, Lisa Muzzi, and his father, Dominic Sr., running the operation, which consists of a handful of entities. THE BACK STORY: Dominic Sr. and his future wife, Martha, met in Pescadero, north of Santa Cruz, where Martha grew up and Dominic had family connections. In fact, both families farmed the area and it is where Dominic Sr. started his career as a farmer with his family.
family and farmed the land. They added a roadside stand in 1975 and altered their crop rotation as opportunities arose, but no major changes occurred as the company concentrated on building their reputation as a top quality and service-oriented organization. CHANGING WITH THE TIMES: Since the mid-‘80s, the Muzzi family has changed its business model, added new entities and thrived as a processor and sales agent for both fresh and frozen specialty vegetables. The business model began to change as Dominic and then Lisa became more involved in the company. In the mid-1980s, the family stopped farming the ground they owned but rather leased the land and became a sales agent for other growers. In 1984, Watsonville Produce Inc. was formed to handle cooling, sales and shipping of vegetables grown on area farms. Through the ‘90s, partnerships were formed with many growers and companies as the company became a co-packer, as the value-added revolution took center stage. Dominic Jr. modestly admits the company was not a pioneer in the movement but was an early adopter and provided co-packing services for several other companies as they dipped their toes in the value-added category. Along the way, they added a cooling and shipping facility in Yuma, the Red River Fresh Produce Facility Two decades later, in 2007, the family business became the managing partners of Blue Ribbon Frozen Foods, LLC in Watsonville to process, freeze and pack locally grown vegetables. In 2012, they added a sales division, Muzzi Family Farms, and began selling the products they were packing and cooling, both on the fresh and frozen side. Dominic says there are some synergies on the growing side between fresh and frozen vegetables, with many of the growers supplying both and the frozen facility does give
But in 1964, the young couple moved 60 miles south to Moss Landing and began their own farming company with Martha’s father growing Brussels sprouts, English peas, fava beans, broccoli and cauliflower. They also began their family with Dominic Jr. coming first followed a few years later by Lisa. A STABLE OPERATION: For the next 20 years, the Muzzis raised their
8 Western Grower & Shipper | www.wga.com NOVEMBER | DECEMBER 2019
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