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Seneca Foods
Seneca Foods
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Seneca Foods is a leading provider of packaged fruits and vegetables with 26 facilities in eight states in support of its main operations. In business for 76 years, the company now employs 2,900 people.
What inspired the founding of your company, and what was its original mission?
Arthur Wolcott founded Seneca Foods in Dundee in 1949 shortly after graduating Cornell University. He had intended to buy a typewriter at a company liquidation sale, and instead made a deal to lease the plant and resume operations under the name Seneca Grape Juice Company. Seneca then contracted with Minute Maid to manufacture the first frozen grape juice in the nation.
What were the most significant milestones or turning points in the company’s 50+ years in business?
Through the decades, Seneca slowly transformed from a juice processor to a vegetable processor, changing its name to Seneca Foods along the way. In 1970, Seneca purchased Marion Canning in Marion, NY, marking its entry into vegetable processing. In the decades that followed, Seneca acquired vegetable processing operations from Libby’s (1982), Pillsbury/Green Giant (1995), and Chiquita Processed Foods (2003), to become the largest U.S. processor of canned vegetables.
How has your company adapted to industry changes or economic challenges over the years?
Although Seneca started as a juice processor, as that business faced headwinds, it evolved into a conglomerate, and then a food processor. In total, the company has made more than 70 acquisitions in its history, and many divestitures as well, adapting itself to changing consumer tastes and industry dynamics.
What’s unique about your workplace culture that has contributed to your longevity?
While New York state used to have more than 100 small vegetable canneries, Seneca Foods remains the only one still operating here today. Our longevity is a function of our culture, predicated on the four pillars of our fundamental beliefs: integrity, responsibility, leadership, and excellence.
What are the key factors that have contributed to your company’s ability to stay competitive?
Despite operating in a low margin and cyclical industry exposed to the whims of mother nature, Seneca has invested for the long term in its people, operating plants, and communities.
