SONOMA, Calif. — This month marks the 75th anniversary for Sonoma Foods, and it’s an anniversary made especially sweet by the growth and success the company has enjoyed over the past few years.

The company’s plan to take its already strong presence on the West Coast with its well-known Sonoma Jack label and make it into a fully national brand is well underway, says Marty Adams, CEO. In addition to traditional and flavored Jacks, Sonoma Foods offers traditional and flavored Cheddars and a handful of other products including creamy and aged Jacks.

“In 2007, we’re poised for significant growth in our retail business. Our execution of our plan to be throughout the United States is about 65 percent complete,” Adams says.

The company was founded in 1931 by Celso Viviani, an Italian immigrant who formed the business with another local cheesemaker. Eventually, the two separated into their own family-owned businesses. Today, David Viviani, Celso’s grandson, still is integrally involved in the business as a third generation cheesemaker and the business’ COO.

For the past several years, the company’s goal has been to build its brand presence, says Adams, who came on board in 2002 to help the company develop and execute a strategic plan. With that in mind, Sonoma Foods has made numerous steps toward that goal. One necessity, of course, was for the Viviani family to obtain the capital needed to execute its strategic plan. The right partner was found in 2005 when Monterey Gourmet Foods, a Salinas, Calif.-based manufacturer of fresh gourmet refrigerated food products, purchased 80 percent control of Sonoma Foods.

In many ways, Monterey Gourmet Foods’ financing has given the company the best of both worlds — the ability for the company to keep its family-owned roots and at the same time the necessary influx of capital for the company to expand its product line. Monterey Gourmet Foods also has provided Sonoma Foods with access to its warehousing and distribution network as well as its sales force.

“It’s gone very well,” Adams says of the new ownership of the company. “Everyone at Monterey did what they said they’d do, and seldom does everything go so well after a sale closing.”

Adams says the new ownership has allowed Sonoma Foods to expand its presence in supermarkets and club stores as well as explore alternative channels such as passenger service and military.

Sonoma Foods is strong on the West Coast and is in major supermarket chains including Safeway, Kroger, Albertsons, Raley’s and Sav Mart. It also sells to Costco, Sam’s Club and Wal-Mart among others and does “enormous” tourist business out of San Francisco and the wine country.

In addition, the company’s cheese is famous in its hometown of Sonoma, where Peter Viviani, David’s father, has expanded a retail store into the space in “Sonoma’s historic plaza” downtown where the company previously operated its plant. The plant ceased cheese production there in 2001 after the discovery of a Listeria monocytogenes resulted in a recall.

While a recall is every cheesemaker’s worst nightmare, Adams — who joined Sonoma Foods after the recall — has nothing but good things to say about how the company handled the situation.

“They executed a very fast, very efficient recall of the entire inventory,” Adams says. “They brought back 100 percent of the product, and it was destroyed.”

Most importantly, he says, “there was not one incident of anyone becoming ill or sick.” Adams now calls the recall “ancient history.”

Sonoma Foods currently has its cheese made at another cheese plant, using Sonoma’s long-held recipes. Sonoma Foods cheesemakers consistently are involved in the cheesemaking process.

“We’re hands-on,” Adams says.

And while someday the company may operate another plant of its own — “we talk about it on a regular basis,” Adams says — right now there still is plenty to do to take the company’s quality product and expand it into national distribution.

The bulk of the company’s cheese is sold in 6- or 8-ounce wedges. In recent years, Adams says, the company has had a great deal of success in developing wheels and crescents (half-wheels) with several different 6- or 8-ounce wedges of its cheese.

The company’s flagship product is its Sonoma Jack, a brand the company trademarked in 1975. Currently Sonoma Jack comes in eight flavors: Traditional, Hot Pepper, Garlic, Habañero, Pesto, Mediterranean, Vidalia Onion and Portabella Mushroom. In addition, the company’s Jack family of cheeses includes ParmaJack, an aged hard grating cheese, and Pepato Jack, ParmaJack with peppercorns added.

Sonoma Foods also recently introduced Creamy Jacks, cheeses with 50-51 percent moisture (as opposed to traditional Jacks with 41-42 percent moisture and aged Jacks with 33-34 percent moisture). These new creamy cheeses, Adams says, are perfect for spreads and dips and have a third less fat than cream cheese. The Creamy Jacks come in four flavors — Traditional, Jalapeño, Garlic & Herb and Horseradish & Bacon. A Creamy Blue Jack as well as a traditional moisture Blue Jack also are being unrolled at this time, he says.

In addition to these cheese, the company offers mild Cheddar and a Chili Cheddar as well.

During the past three years, Sonoma Foods has begun to more actively market its cheeses in ready-to-serve cubes and slices with other high-end food products such as sausages and olives for party trays. Adams says these branded trays have been well-received.

The company also has plans to introduce shreds shortly after the first of the year.

“We want to be in the shred business because we want people to use our cheese in cooking,” Adams says.

Over the next few years, the company plans to have its cheese in 40-45 states.

Looking back at where the company has been and where it is headed, Viviani says he is pleased.

“It’s always been our dream to make this a truly national brand,” Viviani says.

“We want to take a moment and reflect and thank all those people who made our 75th anniversary possible,” he adds.

CMN