Landmark Baptist

Bakersfield's Bolthouse Farms will provide scholarships and sponsorships to show its support of gay, bisexual and transgender equality, according to an agreement that ends a boycott of the huge food producer. Bolthouse also will provide medical benefits to same-sex partners of employees.

The agreement with Californians Against Hate ends the "Don't Buy Bolthouse" campaign which has included picketing in the Los Angeles area.

The boycott began after Bolthouse founder, William Bolthouse, donated $100,000 to help get Prop. 8 on the ballot. If passed, Prop. 8 would nullify the California Supreme Court's ruling that made homosexual marriage legal.

Bolthouse sold the company in 2005. In the weeks after he made his contribution to the Prop. 8 campaign, the company emphasized he is no longer connected with the firm.

A spokesman for Bolthouse did not return a reporter's phone calls Thursday.

The Californians Against Hate statement said, ''Bolthouse Farms is committed to working productively with the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) community.

''Bolthouse Farms has embarked on a comprehensive diversity program designed to support inclusiveness in its dealings with all stakeholders including the LGBT community,'' the statement says.

''The LGBT program includes scholarships, event sponsorship and activation, as well as support for community organizations working on LGBT equality issues. These community organizations include The Williams Institute, Human Rights Campaign, Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, Equality California Institute, The Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center and the National Center for Lesbian Rights.

''Bolthouse Farms has also demonstrated internal commitment through its human resource management by implementing changes in its corporate HR policies. Bolthouse Farms has recently added medical benefits to same-sex partners of LGBT employees,'' the statement said.

The purpose of this Company is to glorify God through our business transactions, our work, and our relationships. It is further our desire to bring honor and glory to the Name of Jesus Christ by following God's Word in all of our dealings with employees, suppliers, and customers. God's Word as contained in His Inspired Scriptures will be the final authority in all Corporate matters concerning direction, decisions, and disputes.

Bolthouse Farms: Cornering the Market with God's Principles
by ChristianBusinessDaily
May 8, 2004

Keeping a business in the family is one of the hardest tasks a business owner can ever undertake. Estate taxes, pressure from shareholders and employees, and numerous other factors, both internal and external, often threaten to push the business beyond the reach of the founding family. Families that maintain control of their businesses past the second generation are rare these days, and those that make it that far should count themselves blessed.

Even more blessed, then, is the family business that lasts to the fourth generation. Among the more prolific and successful of this rare breed of company is Bolthouse Farms, now in the fourth generation of ownership. And this topic of God's blessing is one of the first things you will hear from Bill Bolthouse Jr., former president and CEO of the company.

"God has certainly put his hand on our company and blessed us," he tells Business Reform. "But I can't say why-actually, I wouldn't want to try to say why."

But even with his reservations concerning the reasons for the family company's success, that God has shown favor to them is unmistakable. The numbers speak for themselves. Bolthouse Farms, which began with Bill's grandfather in Michigan in 1915, now employs over 2,400 people, processes and ships over 35,000 tons of carrots each month, and has become a leading carrot producer and distributor. Recent strategic and product changes have also ensured Bolthouse's position as a top supplier of premium juice beverages.

One of the most remarkable things about the Bolthouse story is the fact the family has built a successful business with such an unlikely product. Many of us have wished that we could be a part of a seemingly more profitable industry-most of us, at one point or another, have found ourselves wanting to be the next Microsoft. But the story of Bolthouse Farms proves once again that one can succeed doing anything, even growing carrots, if the focus is on people, integrity, and seeking after God every step of the way. It's reassuring to know that God doesn't play favorites when it comes to product: carrots and computer chips are all the same in God's eyes.

The Roots of Success

And although from the company's current vantage point it could be easy to forget the long road through incalculable carrot fields that led to this current season of success, Bill makes it a point to stress the key steps along the way.

"Business was such an integral part of the family," he says. "My dad talked about business around the family table."

In 1959 one of the topics of discussion during these impromptu family meetings was the farms foray into packing fresh carrots for sale in supermarkets. That such a move seems uneventful now is a testament to the genius of the idea. Up to that point in history, packaged carrots was not a mainstream business. But along with taking on no partners and registering the soon-to-be ubiquitous "Look Mom" label, the family's carrot packing pushed the business further toward owning a good portion of the market share.

Likewise, in 1968, Bolthouse Farms broke new ground again. After Bill took a trip to Florida and observed a celery farmer harvesting his crop, Bill returned north to Michigan with an idea for how to build a multiple row harvester and thereby drastically increase the amount of carrots harvested each day. A group of employees set to the task and in just a short time, the first multiple row carrot harvester was born.

Just one year later, Bolthouse Farms brought all sales in-house, thus avoiding the brokers that had been using before and increasing both the speed and the efficiency with which they farm now got its produce to the stores. Bill headed up the farm's sales division and began to learn the power of developing relationships, a lesson that would serve him well as he continued on with the family business.

1973 brought about one of the most radical changes for the company, both in terms of strategy as well the impact that change would have on the future of carrot growth and distribution. Bill's father moved the base of operations to Southern California in order to meet what he seemed to observe as the nation's demand for fresh carrots year round. After an exhaustive search for a place to begin such an endeavor, William sr. decided upon the sunny San Joaquin valley and began growing carrots year round. Bill Jr. stayed back in Michigan and continued to sell from that state and watch as their market share continued to grow. The demand that Bill's father had perceived for carrots year round proved to be true and the Southern California climate proved to be perfect for growing enough carrots to meet that demand. God, again, proved His faithfulness and the family business continued to prosper.

Ripe for Ministry

In 1985, Bill Jr. moved to California himself and took over the main operations of the family business. It was during this period that one of the biggest changes occurred in both the company and Bill's own life. Bill explains: "As time went on, I felt that there was more to life than just working the business. I got a little burnt out after a while," he admits. "In the mid-eighties I joined FCCI, and they really challenged me to use my business as a platform for ministry. At that time, I realized that was what I had to do. Prior to then, I think I was really searching. I was happy running the business, but I was looking for a little more of a purpose for what I was doing. I learned that some integration of ministry into the business really fulfilled what I was seeking. I could have my cake and eat it too."

What stemmed almost immediately from this awakening was Bolthouse Farm's first strategic planning meeting, and it was during this initial meeting that the company drafted official mission and purpose statements respectively (see sidebar). Each of these statements would change the direction of the company and begin to allow the business to reach out to the surrounding community and begin to plant seeds besides those of the strictly literal variety.

"Using your business as a platform for ministry goes back to Matthew 5:13," Bill explains. "We're commanded to be the salt of the earth and the light, and that we're supposed to shine. Jesus there basically answers the question of how you do business and why you are supposed to do it. You do it by doing good deeds and ministering to those you come into contact with. And the 'why' is so that people will see our good deeds and know our Father in heaven."

With the business's focus now on ministry as well as carrots, Bill and his staff got right to work implementing the new statements. "The first thing we did was put a daily devotional Bible in the lobby instead of the magazines that were in there before," he says. "Another thing we did was to purposefully make it a priority to pray before business meetings and meals, and we also committed to tithing out of the business. We also set up a family foundation, which was the vehicle through which we tithed." Among the many recipients of the foundation's money is Cedarville University, which received the funds for a new music building several years ago.

Of all the things that Bolthouse Farms values, people are primary. And at that time, while the business side of operations continued to remain a focus, Bill came to understand that with prosperity comes the responsibility to take care of those that help make that prosperity possible. Incentivising workers, caring for them and their families, and creating a culture of trust and understanding-all this came together to define what Bolthouse Farms continues to be about.

A Brand New Baby

And it was just a few years after the implementation of the ministry side of the family business that the company would experience a breakthrough that not only changed the business itself forever, but would also radically alter the future of the carrot business.

Ever a fiscally responsible businessman, Bill had been struggling for years to find a way to cut down on the waste inherent in the carrot production process. Carrots tend to break fairly easily, and a good percentage of any given carrot ends up being hauled away for cattle feed. Seeing this problem, in 1991 Bill pursued a solution. The answer: Short Cuts-also referred to in more popular nomenclature as baby carrots-were peeled and cut carrots that soon became a staple of vegetable crispers in refrigerators nationwide. The tiny carrots became so popular, in fact, that the new product quickly became the business's main driver. The idea, Bill says, was just good business sense.

"Any time you can take something that's scrap and turn it into a value-added product," he says, "you're going to be a hard competitor."

God's favor, then, was seen again in this stage of the company's progress. Baby carrots took the nation by storm and the company prospered even more. What is most interesting about the phenomenon of the baby carrot and the success that it brought to Bolthouse Farms, though, is how the project was financed to begin with. The story is nothing less than remarkable and further proves again that God's hand has been guiding the business along through the years.

In 1990, many of Bolthouse's competitors were moving in to Mexico in order to take advantage of the cheap labor and warm weather. Bolthouse Farms, seeing that staying out of the race south could have dire consequences for its bottom line, took steps to buy land and hired a consultant to advise on such a move.

Assured from the start that the company would not be required to pay the usual bribes to the Mexican officials at the border, Bill sent some members of his management team to Mexico to assess the situation for themselves. When they returned, they reported that the assurance that they had received about the bribes had been faulty. Their competitors were already well-established in the country and had been forced to pay out bribes in order to secure such a position. After hearing this news, an employee approached Bill and made a convincing case for how such bribes would be in direct conflict with the mission statement drafted just a few years before. In his wisdom and humility, Bill cancelled the planned move.

It took less than two years for Bill to see that God's providential hand had been involved in the deal the whole time. Right around 1992, every one of the farm's competitors was forced out of Mexico, and many lost a large amount of money in the process. Bolthouse Farms, however, was by this time already involved in the packaging and distribution of the baby carrots (having, ironically enough, poured the money that had been set aside for the move to Mexico into production of the baby carrots) and were well ahead of the competition by the time they retreated back into the states. The success of the baby carrots, then, was directly related to Bill and Co.'s attention to biblical principles and their collective desire to please the Lord even when it didn't initially seem convenient.

Seeing this part of the Bolthouse story unfold serves as a great example of how God works within a business. What started with a change of heart at an FCCI conference led to the drafting of the mission and purpose statements respectively. This emphasis on integrity then led the company out of Mexico, even though at the time it seemed as if the company would suffer financially for the decision. But in God's good wisdom and time, Bolthouse Farms was both saved from great financial loss and blessed with the opportunity to pour its resources into a new product that would eventually reap enormous benefits.

What is also interesting about this story is the illustration of how integrity and profits go hand in hand. Outsourcing jobs has become one of the hottest topics in this country today (see Joe Johnson's article later in this issue). Part of John Kerry's presidential ticket, in fact, involves tax credits for companies that keep jobs in the United States. And although we here at Business Reform certainly don't agree with the Robin Hood style of business regulation (such tax credits would be tantamount to stealing from the rich and giving to the poor), the lesson that Bolthouse Farms and its competitors learned in Mexico is an important one. The reason, Bill says, that the farms couldn't prosper on Mexican soil had a lot to do with the worldview of the workers and the government officials south of the border. Theft, dishonesty, and general disregard for biblical principles made business all but impossible. And because the poverty is so abject, incentivising the native workers was impossible. "They are so poor that there is this glass ceiling," Bill says. "They can't even imagine what it would be like not to be in poverty. And because of that mentality, you can't incentivise them. It just doesn't work."

Ethics in business, then, is an international concern as well as a day-to-day operational one. And although the move for Bolthouse Farms looked great on paper, they found that entering a country that doesn't have a good biblically-based ethical system in actuality makes very little business sense.

Likewise, in 1998 the company began looking into the European market as a candidate for distribution. Because Europe does not have a significant agricultural base, Bolthouse began looking at how to put its carrots in continental hands. After a great deal of research, however, the business opted not to go international and although the move was criticized by many, the money saved in the cancellation of the deal was put to better use.

Passing the Carrot On

Observing the market trends and looking again to further diminish the waste pile necessarily accumulated by those in the carrot business, Bolthouse Farms, in that same year, began taking steps to move out of the agriculture business and into the food production business. Instead of keeping the company's concentration solely on fresh carrots, Bill directed the focus of the company to include other products-juices, for example.

"We started out as an agricultural company," he relates, "then went into packaging. In the early 1990s, we then started into processing, cutting, and peeling carrots. Now we're into beverages, and we're now launching into non-carrot products. I knew before I retired that we were going to go into the food business. My roots are in the ground-I'm an agriculture guy. And we're now a long way from where I started. And I knew that before I retired."

So as the food production focus grew and the concentration upon agriculture declined, Bill began looking for a new leader for the family business, someone more in tune with the new market sector. Because his children were not actively involved in the business, Bill had to go a little further out the family lines to find his replacement. And whom he found was just the man for the job-his son-in-law.

In 2002, Andre Radandt took over as President and CEO of Bolthouse Farms, while Bill stepped into the role of chairman of the board and took the helm of Bolthouse properties. A former home-builder in Michigan, Bill asked him to be a part of the business in 1992. After a decade of mentoring, Andre took over at the height of the company's success, and has led the company in that same direction for the last two years.

"Andre's very sharp and has a lot of energy," Bill says of his successor. "He's motivated and has the aptitude and talent for running the company. He's a very effective leader."

"Stewardship and integrity have always been a part of the business and have been well-established culturally," Andre told Business Reform recently. "My job is to preserve that. The stewardship part is about protecting the profitability of the company. That's one of the main sources of satisfaction we get from what we do. The integrity side involves using the business as a platform for ministry. Internally, we're very careful about who we hire. Externally, we support a lot of ministries in the area-when they need something, we get it for them."

Although the leadership and the primary thrust of the company is now very different than it was just five years ago, Andre maintains that Bolthouse Farms is very much still the same company. The focus on integrity and application of biblical principles into the daily operations of the company remains the same, and above all, people are still number one.

"Business is a whole lot more about people than it is numbers," says Bill. "In Real Estate it's 'location, location, location,' and in this business it's 'people, people, people.' You have to value people, make them feel that they are part of this business." And combined with God's providential hand guiding the company along the way, Bill asserts that his family business would be nowhere without all the families that help make what his company is today.

Corporate Philosophy:

The purpose of this company is to glorify God through our business transactions, our work, and our relationships. It is further our desire to bring honor and glory to the Name of Jesus Christ by following God's Word in all of our dealings with employees, suppliers, and customers. God's Word as contained in His inspired Scriptures will be the final authority in all Corporate matters concerning direction, decision, and disputes.

Corporate Mission Statement:

We are a market-driven, fully integrated produce company. We are innovative in agricultural packing technology. Within the parameters of our Corporate Philosophy, our focus is to offer quality products at the lowest possible cost through a "state of the art" plant, quality raw materials and maintain trust and credibility with our customers, growers and employees.