business backgrounder | industry
family business, family values
The company was a family business from the start. And William
McCaffray treated his employees and customers as such, creating a unique corporate culture that remains in place today. “It
came from Dad,” Ted McCaffray said in the book. “Just give the
other fellow a good break.”
This policy of treating people well has played out in big and
small ways over the years. During the Depression, William
McCaffray hired a deaf husband and wife who were struggling to
feed their three kids — after the McCaffrays’ had also supported
them with food and gifts. And upon watching women workers
during World War II bring their own coffee to work in Thermos
containers, William McCaffray’s daughter advocated for free
coffee for the plant’s employees.
Steve McCaffray said his grandfather passed the values down to
his three sons, who all worked for the company. “Long before I ever
heard the term ‘walk the talk,’ the three McCaffray brothers really
exemplified it by being honest, caring and having respect for the
people they worked with.”
In their turn as
company leaders —
at a glance
Steve’s father, Ted,
wa s t h e c o m p a ny
president — Steve
National Frozen Foods marked its 100th
recalls the brothyear in business on Jan. 15, 2012.
ers knowing all the
In 1911, William McCaffray Sr. wrote a
employees names,
letter to a friend he’d worked with in a
and stopping them to
Nevada gold mine. His letter outlined an
chat. Then, and now, the company has offered its staff good pay and benefits. The low
idea for founding a canning operation in
employee turnover reflects their appreciation.
the Pacific Northwest and asked for a loan
Many have been with National for more than 30 years, many started with the company
of $5,000 to get it started. The friend
as summer help in the plants and worked their way through various positions. The comagreed, and the National Fruit Canning
pany focuses on giving its employees responsibility and authority to make decisions, said
Company was established in Olympia
Celeste Gazarek, National’s vice president of finance.
on Jan. 15, 1912.
“I’ve been here 22 years and I’m still considered a baby,” she said. “People are happy
to be here.”
beating the odds
Though the company culture hasn’t changed, its business and industry certainly has. Even
as late as the 1960s, most towns had at least one cannery or freezing plant. But many went
out of business decades ago.
“There’s been some difficult decisions, and difficult times the company has gone
through,” Grader, its current CEO, said. “But there’s always been willingness to change,
and change on our terms before we’re forced to.”
Grader recalled that when Steve McCaffray — the founder’s grandson — took over
as president, he had a list of 25 things he wanted to do. “There wasn’t anything really
wrong with the company, but we needed to do that to stay ahead,” Grader said.
At the top of that list was changing the company’s name to National Frozen Foods.
That happened in 1988. McCaffray knew a new name was overdue, but the previous
The company has four processing plants,
employs 500 full-time people (and
more than 1,200 in peak season) and
works with 200 growers. The (now)
Seattle-based company is responsible
for some of the earliest frozen retail
packaging — producing one-pound cups
of strawberries a few years later