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Mt. Olive Pickle Company,
Inc.
HISTORY
The Mt. Olive
Pickle Company, Inc., located at the Corner of Cucumber & Vine in
Mount Olive, North Carolina, was originally founded to brine
cucumbers to be sold to other pickling firms. When that plan didn’t
work, 37 local business people came together to establish the
company for the purpose of packing and selling its own pickle
products. From a modest beginning
in 1926, with only a 3,600 square-foot building and $19,500 in capital, the Mt. Olive Pickle
Company has grown to become the largest independent pickle company
in the United States.
The company packs over 90 million jars of processed and fresh pack
pickles, relishes and peppers annually.
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DISTRIBUTION
Mt.
Olive
is the second best-selling brand of pickles in the country, and its
products can now be found in all 50 states. In the Southeast, Mt.
Olive is the number one brand, and its share of pickle
sales in some markets approaches 70%. The company maintains its own direct sales
force, which manages a network of food brokers to sell its products
throughout its market area.
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FACILITIES
The company’s
facilities are located on 110 acres of land (including the original
one acre purchased in 1926) with approximately 675,000 square feet
of production, office and warehouse space. The company has over
1,200 fiberglass and plastic brine vats, with storage capacity in
excess of 40 million pounds of cucumbers.
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PRODUCTION
Each year, Mt.
Olive uses over 130 million pounds of cucumbers and peppers. About
35 million pounds of cucumbers are received from independent growers
in North Carolina
in the months of June, and on a much smaller scale, September. North
Carolina is second in the nation in the agricultural production of
pickling cucumbers. At other times of the year, Mt. Olive purchases
fresh cucumbers from Florida, Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina,
Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, Ohio, Michigan and Mexico. Brined
cucumber and pepper products are also purchased from India and
Greece. The company operates two shifts of production year-round.
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RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT
The company has
developed close ties with research universities like
N.C. State
University in everything from horticulture to food science to
engineering. These relationships have helped the company remain at
the forefront of the industry with cucumber and pickle production
developments, as well as waste management methods. Researchers in
the late 1960s conducted a series of controlled fermentation studies
at Mt. Olive that improved brining methods throughout the industry.
The company continues as one of the industry leaders involved in
research directed at further reducing the quantity of salt used in
the brining process. In other areas, the company was the first in
the nation to use high fructose corn syrup sweeteners instead of
sugar. In 2002, Mt. Olive was the first pickle brand to
introduce a line of No Sugar Added sweet pickle products, using the
no calorie sweetener sucralose. And, in 2007, the company introduced
its picklePAK line, the first
pickle products offered in single-serve cups.
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EMPLOYEES
The Mt. Olive
Pickle Company has about 500 year-round
employees, and over 800
employees during the busiest part of the intake season each summer.
The company’s management is particularly proud of its Employee
Profit Sharing and Savings Plan, established in 1943 and one of the
first in the country. In 2003 the company was recognized by the
North Carolina Department of Labor as a Carolina Star / Voluntary
Protection Program (VPP) site, and it was
recertified as a Carolina
Star site in
2005. Mt. Olive is the first pickle company
in the nation to be so recognized for its effective safety and
health management.
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COMMUNITY
Mt.
Olive
is named for its hometown, a community of less than 5,000 people in
Eastern North Carolina. Each April, the community celebrates the
N.C. Pickle Festival, and
proceeds benefit local initiatives. Residents also turn out for the
annual New Year’s Eve Pickle Drop,
held at the Corner of Cucumber & Vine at 7 p.m. (midnight Greenwich
Mean Time.) In addition, the company and its employees
contribute generously
in cash and product donations to community organizations each year.
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