Golden State Foods
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Golden State Foods (GSF) is an
Irvine, California Irvine () is a Planned community, master-planned city in South Orange County, California, United States, in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Irvine Company started developing the area in the 1960s and the city was formally incorporated on ...
-based wholly management-owned and -run business-to-business
foodservice The foodservice (US English) or catering (British English) industry includes the businesses, institutions, and companies which prepare meals outside the home. It includes restaurants, school and hospital cafeterias, catering operations, and many ...
company that primarily serves McDonald's. Through a joint venture with Taylor Fresh Foods Inc., GSF is one of the biggest and longest-serving suppliers to
McDonald's McDonald's Corporation is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechri ...
restaurants, including liquid products, and it is McDonald's third-largest beef supplier in the U.S. market. The company manufacturers, supplies and delivers food to restaurants such as McDonald's, Starbucks, Chick-fil-A, KFC and Taco Bell.


History


1947-1999

The company was founded in 1947 by Bill (William) Moore and Frank Streeter and began as a small meat company to supply products to Los Angeles area restaurants and hotels. It is a 100% management-owned and -operated company. In the early 1950s, it started providing meat products to McDonald's Corporation. On June 12, 1984, GSF employee Samuel Vasquez, 22 years old, was ground to death by a meat grinder in Golden State Foods'
City of Industry, California City of Industry is a city in the San Gabriel Valley, in eastern Los Angeles County, California, United States. The city is almost entirely industrial, containing over 3,000 businesses employing 67,000 people, with only 264 residents as of th ...
facility when his coworker turned on the machine while he was inside. "The blender amputated his foot and legs, ripped his chest open, tore out his heart and caused both lungs to collapse." according to investigators. The machine was able to turn on due to the failure of Golden State Foods to practice
lockout–tagout Lock out, tag out (LOTO) is a safety procedure used to ensure that dangerous equipment is properly shut off and not able to be started up again prior to the completion of maintenance or repair work. It requires that hazardous energy sources be " ...
procedures mandated by safety regulations. Their practice was to clean with the machine running as it was slightly easier. California OSHA and the
Los Angeles County District Attorney The District Attorney of Los Angeles County is in charge of the office that prosecutes felony and misdemeanor crimes that occur within Los Angeles County, California, United States. The current district attorney (DA) is George Gascón. Some mi ...
filed a criminal charge against the company over this matter. Golden State Foods pleaded no contest to the criminal charge. In 1998, GSF was acquired by Wetterau Associates, a
St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...
-based investment group led by the CEO Mark Wetterau and The Yucaipa Companies with the latter as the majority stakeholder. At that time, GSF was valued at $1.4 billion.


2000-2011

Chef Gold was launched in 2000 to produce liquid products, such as
ketchup Ketchup or catsup is a table condiment with a sweet and tangy flavor. The unmodified term ("ketchup") now typically refers to tomato ketchup, although early recipes used egg whites, mushrooms, oysters, grapes, mussels, or walnuts, among other ...
and
mustard Mustard may refer to: Food and plants * Mustard (condiment), a paste or sauce made from mustard seeds used as a condiment * Mustard plant, one of several plants, having seeds that are used for the condiment ** Mustard seed, seeds of the mustard p ...
, and cooked meat products for a variety of customers. In the same year, GSF formed a self-serving subsidiary called Centralized Leasing Company (CLC) to provide GSF with
leasing A lease is a contractual arrangement calling for the user (referred to as the ''lessee'') to pay the owner (referred to as the ''lessor'') for the use of an asset. Property, buildings and vehicles are common assets that are leased. Industrial ...
services. In 2002 Signature Services was launched to offer customized services such as store painting, lot striping, power washing and landscaping. In partnership with The Arthur Wells Group in
St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...
; GSF formed CFM Logistics to help clients with their freight distribution needs. By 2017, the company serviced approximately 25,000 restaurants. Prior to 2000, the entirety of GSF's revenue came from McDonald's. With the expansion of its customer base, by 2006, the company's dependency on McDonald's was reduced to 80%. The vice president of distribution said in 2006 that they choose their new customers in such a way to avoid upsetting McDonald's. GSF established the GSF Foundation, a nonprofit organization, in 2002 to provide support to children and families in need through volunteering and donations. In 2004, Golden State Foods became a 100% management-owned and operated company with the acquisition of 50.3% of the company that was owned by Yucaipa Companies. Four GSF distribution centers received awards for food safety in 2004. In 2006, Quality Custom Distribution (QCD) was formed as a subsidiary of GSF. As of February 2020, QCD delivered supplies to over 7,500 stores, including
Starbucks Starbucks Corporation is an American multinational chain of coffeehouses and roastery reserves headquartered in Seattle, Washington. It is the world's largest coffeehouse chain. As of November 2021, the company had 33,833 stores in 80 c ...
,
Chipotle Mexican Grill Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (, ), often known simply as Chipotle, is an American chain of fast casual restaurants specializing in bowls, tacos and Mission burritos made to order in front of the customer. Chipotle operates restaurants in the Unit ...
and
Chick-fil-A Chick-fil-A ( , a Word play, play on the American English pronunciation of "wikt:filet#Pronunciation, filet") is an American fast food restaurant chain which is the country's largest which specializes in chicken sandwiches. Headquartered in Coll ...
. In 2009, an employee was crushed and killed by a robotic
palletizer A palletizer or palletiser is a machine which provides automatic means for stacking cases of goods or products onto a pallet. Manually placing boxes on pallets can be time consuming and expensive; it can also put unusual stress on workers. The f ...
at GSF's City of Industry Plant. The company pleaded guilty to a felony violation of machinery lockout-tagout and fined $2 million. Additionally, the company pleaded guilty to violating
California Labor Code The California Labor Code, more formally known as "the Labor Code", is a collection of civil law statutes for the State of California. The code is made up of statutes which govern the general obligations and rights of persons within the jurisdic ...
6425 in January 2013 for "the willful violation of Title 8 of the California Code of Regulations § 3314(h)". The manager responsible was convicted of a misdemeanor and placed on a probation.


2012-present

In May 2012, a 60-foot truck operated by a GSF / Quality Custom Distribution (QCD) killed a bicyclist while making a right turn in downtown
Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...
. The family and GSF settled a subsequent lawsuit on the eighth day of a civil trial, with GSF agreeing to give $700,000 to the family. In November 2012, GSF acquired KanPak China, a manufacturing company for clients in the quick-service restaurant industry. GSF then acquired KanPak U.S. the next year. In 2013, GSF sold its
Rochester, New York Rochester () is a City (New York), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, the county seat, seat of Monroe County, New York, Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffalo, ...
distribution facility to another McDonald's supplier, Anderson-DuBose Co. GSF's QCD subsidiary acquired restaurant supplier Mile Hi Specialty Foods, which served approximately 1,000 stores. in November 2016. GSF formed QCD Rocky Mountain LLC to run the unit. QCD opened a new facility in
Fontana, California Fontana is a city in San Bernardino County, California. Founded by Azariel Blanchard Miller in 1913, it remained essentially rural until World War II, when entrepreneur Henry J. Kaiser built a large steel mill in the area. It is now a regional h ...
, dedicated to servicing Starbucks stores in July 2018. In March 2019, GSF opened a 165,000-square-foot meat processing plant in
Opelika, Alabama Opelika (pronounced ) is a city in and the county seat of Lee County in the east-central part of the U.S. state of Alabama. It is a principal city of the Auburn-Opelika Metropolitan Area. As of the 2020 census, the population of Opelika is ...
. ''
Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...
'' named GSF in its "
Blockchain A blockchain is a type of distributed ledger technology (DLT) that consists of growing lists of records, called ''blocks'', that are securely linked together using cryptography. Each block contains a cryptographic hash of the previous block, a ...
50" list in April 2019 for its tracking of food safety data across its supply chain. QCD opened a distribution center, in
Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...
, in June 2019. In late 2019, GSF's QCD moved its headquarters to
Frisco, Texas Frisco is a city in Collin and Denton counties in the U.S. state of Texas. It is part of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex and about from both Dallas Love Field and Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. Its population was 200,509 at the 2 ...
and acquired four warehouses in the Midwest and Northeast regions in February 2020, becoming Starbucks' top supplier These four warehouses opened for business between March and September, 2020. On June 1, 2020, during a protest against police brutality in
Portland, Maine Portland is the largest city in the U.S. state of Maine and the seat of Cumberland County. Portland's population was 68,408 in April 2020. The Greater Portland metropolitan area is home to over half a million people, the 104th-largest metropol ...
, a tractor trailer driver for GSF's Quality Custom Distribution slowly drove into a crowd of protesters following a delivery. The driver was arrested on a felony charge of reckless conduct with a dangerous weapon. In July 2020, GSF's
City of Industry, California City of Industry is a city in the San Gabriel Valley, in eastern Los Angeles County, California, United States. The city is almost entirely industrial, containing over 3,000 businesses employing 67,000 people, with only 264 residents as of th ...
facility was closed by the health department after failing to report an outbreak of 43 cases of
COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...
to the health department as required. The facility reopened less than 24 hours later.


Operations

GSF entered the
baked goods Baking is a method of preparing food that uses dry heat, typically in an oven, but can also be done in hot ashes, or on hot stones. The most common baked item is bread but many other types of foods can be baked. Heat is gradually transferred " ...
business by forming a
joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acces ...
with
Bryan, Texas Bryan is a city and the county seat of Brazos County, Texas, United States. It is located in the heart of the Brazos Valley (East and Central Texas). As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 83,980. Bryan borders the city of College ...
-based Mid South Bakery. The baked products are distributed to customers in the Southeastern United States. The company reports it exports products to more than 40 countries. GSF's Australian group, supplies produce to
KFC KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken) is an American fast food restaurant chain headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky, that specializes in fried chicken. It is the world's second-largest restaurant chain (as measured by sales) after McDonald's, with 2 ...
,
Taco Bell Taco Bell is an American-based chain of fast food restaurants founded in 1962 by Glen Bell (1923–2010) in Downey, California. Taco Bell is a subsidiary of Yum! Brands, Inc. The restaurants serve a variety of Mexican-inspired foods, includi ...
and
Pizza Hut Pizza Hut is an American multinational restaurant chain and international franchise founded in 1958 in Wichita, Kansas by Dan and Frank Carney. They serve their signature pan pizza and other dishes including pasta, breadsticks and dessert at d ...
. The company also owns a food processing and distribution center in Egypt, through which it provides processing and distribution services in the
Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...
.


References


External links

* *{{cite web , url=http://www.hoovers.com/golden-state-foods/--ID__40175--/free-co-factsheet.xhtml , title=Golden State Foods Corp., access-date=2009-07-22 , publisher=Hoovers Food manufacturers of the United States Companies based in Irvine, California Condiment companies of the United States