Food inspectors examine a constant stream of corn moving through the National Frozen Foods factory in Chehalis Jan. 13. The company is celebrating its 100 years in business.
Conveyor belts at the National Frozen Foods facility in Chehalis move corn, peas, and carrots through an almost fully automated system.
The National Frozen Foods Corporation reached 100 years in business this month.
In the century of packing and processing, National Frozen Foods has become a staple of the Lewis County community.
"The Chehalis plant is the oldest plant National has," General Manager Pat Sauter said. "It's a big piece of our company."
National Frozen Foods expanded to Chehalis in 1927, which makes the corporation a part of Lewis County for 85 of its 100-year history.
The Chehalis plant does the largest amount of packing and processing for the business. Nearly 170 million pounds of product are produced each year from Chehalis.
On site is a cold storage facility that holds 90 million pounds of product. The company processes green peas, cut and cob corn, sliced, diced and baby carrots and green and Lima beans.
In 1977, the downtown Chehalis plant expanded with more cold storage and another plant. Now, the company has a processing plant and a packaging, shipping plant in Chehalis. National Frozen Foods also has plants in Moses Lake, Quincy and Albany, Ore. The company ships product nationally and internationally year-round.
Businessman William McCaffray founded the National Fruit Canning Company in Olympia on Jan. 15, 1912. Six years later, after recognizing the advantages of frozen food processing, McCaffray began cold-packing strawberries in 50-gallon wooden barrels, according to a history of the business available on its website.
By 1928, the business started freezing one-pound cups of strawberries - some of the earliest frozen retail packaging in the world, according to the online history of the business. In the 1930s, vegetables were frozen with one of the first freezing tunnels in the United States.
By 1986, the company changed its name to National Frozen Foods.
Today, the McCaffray family still owns 15 percent of the business. Endeavor Capital, a private company based in Portland, owns 85 percent.
Since the longtime business switched to frozen foods, more automation has filled the production lines.
"Automation is something a company has to do to stay competitive," Sauter said.
Even with more equipment, Sauter said the company has continued to focus on its employees.
The Northwest-based company has 210 full-time employees and nearly 500 employees overall. Many work seasonally, going to work during and after harvests.
Many Lewis County residents have worked for National Frozen Foods in their long history.
"National is good about promoting from within," Sauter said. "And we don't have much turnover. It's nice how the McCaffray family has done things."
The longest tenured employees in the Chehalis plant are the field representatives. Jim Curelas started working on a full-time basis for National Frozen Foods in 1972. Curelas said he started as a "bugger," keeping watch over the farm fields. Curelas now organizes close to 200 contracts with growers in the area. All the contract growers farm in the Northwest.
Greg Wilson, another field representative, has worked for the company nearly as long as Curelas.
Wilson said working with the farms is interesting because he has seen farm ownership passed down to the next generation of farmers.
"We've watched a lot of people come and go," Wilson said. "Now we are working with the children. We see them taking over the farms."
As the eyes and ears of the crop, Curelas and Wilson are busy tracking planting into harvest for next spring.
As the local company moves into another century, Sauter said he wants to expand the business in the Northwest and nationwide.
No expansion plans have been decided, but Sauter said the company is ready to take an opportunity if one arises. In the meantime, Sauter is enjoying what is business does best.
"We are feeding the world," Sauter said.
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Kyle Spurr: (360) 807-8239
