Member Spotlight:听Hirzel Canning Company & Farms
Fresh traditions always growing at Hirzel Canning
Jessica Hirzel, supply chain manager at , is surrounded by family as she seats herself for this interview.
They鈥檙e not all physically present, you understand 鈥� quite a few are otherwise occupied in day-to-day business 鈥� but it鈥檚 impossible to overlook family when ancestral portraits and pictures line the walls of the company conference room.
Founder Carl R. Hirzel is prominent, and Jessica shares the history that spans nearly a century. 鈥淕reat-grandfather Carl Hirzel began as a brew master, a skill he learned through apprenticeship in Pennsylvania,鈥� she says. 鈥淗owever, Prohibition made his abilities in that field less marketable.鈥�
Farming seemed a more stable occupation, particularly given the growing family that he and his wife Lena were raising. Northwest Ohio provided a fertile venue for the fresh cabbage crop that he knew would sell well. His entrepreneurial spirit, though, quickly realized that canned sauerkraut would fill a niche that didn鈥檛 yet exist.
In just three years Carl expanded from sauerkraut sold in wooden kegs and barrels to packaging whole tomatoes in cans. 鈥淗is philosophy, even that early on, was to pack tomatoes while they were as fresh as possible,鈥� Jessica says. 鈥淭hat meant using local produce. Customers responded immediately, and that established a long tradition of working locally.鈥澨�
Today, Hirzel Canning Company augments the output of its own local farm (located in Pemberville, Ohio) with the harvests of more than 30 family growers in northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan. Carl鈥檚 humble sauerkraut has grown to a global empire of canned vegetables, including the iconic Dei Fratelli line of tomato sauces.
With the team of local growers, half of Hirzel鈥檚 tomatoes are actually grown within 10 miles of their processing plant 鈥� and 75 percent are grown in a 20-mile radius. Not only do the logistics allow for streamlined transport, they mean that the plump, Roma-style tomatoes are as fresh as they can be: from vine to can in just six to 10 hours.
As well as cementing a commitment to producing locally, the ancestral Hirzels laid down deep family loyalties. As Jessica notes, every succeeding generation produced 鈥減lenty of family members who were ready to step up and invest their skills in the company. There were some like an uncle, who brought mechanical abilities that improved the way the tomatoes were processed. There were others who brought their ideas on expanding the product line. All of this brought us successfully into the fifth generation, almost a hundred years later.鈥�
听She鈥檚 quick to add that admission into the company鈥檚 management team 鈥渄oesn鈥檛 happen automatically just because your name is Hirzel. You have to produce; that was another part of Carl鈥檚 philosophy, and it鈥檚 part of ours today.鈥�
Out of that demand came innovations: an early one was using water to float tomatoes in transit and to unload them for processing with less damage to the fruit. Each succeeding generation brought new inventiveness to meet new challenges, like Hirzel鈥檚 fully licensed Ohio EPA Class II composting operation, which in a single year diverted 75 million pounds of organic waste from area landfills.
Social media is another innovation that Hirzel Canning has embraced. Jessica mentions the success of company鈥檚 efforts with Facebook and Pinterest, where recipe-sharing is especially popular. 鈥淲e share the stories behind the food,鈥� Jessica notes. 鈥淧eople want to know where their food comes from, and our local-food philosophy is a great story that resonates.鈥�
Joining the 淫妻社 Family Business Center was a particular innovation that paid off immediately, says Jessica. 鈥淲e became participating members back in the 1990s. There鈥檚 no other organization that provides connections with other family businesses that we鈥檝e made over the years. As you know, the perspectives of a family business aren鈥檛 the same as the perspectives of corporate operations, so we appreciate the stories, the strategies and the experiences of family businesses, whatever their size.鈥�
Asked if Hirzel management act as mentors to other Family Business Center members, Jessica is quick to reply, 鈥淲e learn just as much from others as they do from us. The affinity groups especially have been great places to learn, plus we have the resources of the university and its faculty.鈥�
Hirzel Canning continues to thrive. Today headed by president and CEO Steve Hirzel, the proudly Ohio company maintains its Northwood plant as well as two food divisions in Pemberville and Ottawa. Approximately 150 employees work full time year-round, the number more than doubling during canning season. Canned sauerkraut is still produced, joined by salsas, pasta sauces, spicy bulk peppers 鈥� and of course, tomatoes in every form: whole, diced, sauced and juiced. Some six million cases of products are shipped annually.
As Jessica notes, public eating habits have changed considerably from a century ago. 鈥淧eople don鈥檛 cook at home as much. They do buy our products at grocery stores, but they鈥檙e just as likely to be enjoying our tomatoes at a restaurant, or as part of a meal kit that鈥檚 delivered to their homes half-prepared. Or they might eat one of our specialty sauces because it appears in a commercial soup.
鈥淎s much as possible, we meet the customer where the need is.鈥�
And the future of the Hirzel family where it intersects that of the company? After all, Hirzel Canning Company is one of a select number of family businesses that continue to match financial success with strong family participation into the fifth generation. Jessica speaks for the family when she says, 鈥淲e鈥檙e all still excited about what we鈥檙e doing; we work well together, arguments and all. The vision that Carl began still holds us together.
鈥淲e鈥檙e more than actual relatives, of course. Many of our employees have been with us for years and years, and though they might not be named Hirzel, they feel like family. We鈥檙e always on the hunt for employees who come from outside. The same way as with our tomatoes, we鈥檙e committed to freshness 鈥� and fresh ideas come from outside as well as inside.鈥澨�