Mount Olive Pickle Company

Infobox Company
company_name = Mount Olive Pickle Company
company_
company_type = Private
foundation = 1926
founder = Shickrey Baddour and George Moore
location = Mount Olive, North Carolina, United States
key_people =
industry = Food processing
revenue = |
products = pickled cucumbers, mixed pickle, relish and other pickled products
homepage = [http://www.mtolivepickles.com/ www.mtolivepickles.com] The Mount Olive Pickle Company is an American food processing company located in Mount Olive, North Carolina. The company's primary product is pickled cucumbers, but it is also a large supplier of mixed pickle, relish and other pickled products.

Mt. Olive is the top-selling pickle brand in the Southeastern United States, where its market share approaches 70 percent. Nationally, Mt. Olive is the second-best-selling brand of pickles in the U.S.Mohan, "Mt. Olive Packs and Prints Pickles and Peppers," "Packaging Digest," September 2005.]

History

Mt. Olive Pickle Co. was founded by Shickrey Baddour, a Lebanese immigrant. Initially, Baddour only sought to buy unused cucumbers from local growers and brine them with the intention of selling the brined vegetables to pickle producers. Baddour partnered with George Moore, a former sailor who had once worked in a pickle plant. But there were too few buyers for the brined cucumbers. In January 1926, Baddour and Moore raised $19,500 to buy a convert|3600|sqft|m2|-1|sing=on building and an acre of land, and together they formed Mt. Olive Pickle Co. [Kornegay, "Creating Public-Private Partnerships to Develop Rural and Small Town Infrastructure," "Agricultural Outlook Forum 2007," March 1, 2007.]

Mt. Olive surpassed $500,000 in sales in 1942. The company initiated a profit-sharing plan in 1943, and by 1947 its sales reached more than $1 million a year. ["Growing An American Tradition," Mt. Olive Pickle Co., 2006.]

In 1973, Mt. Olive food scientists, working in cooperation with researchers from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), discovered one of the secrets of fermentation. The Mt. Olive and USDA researchers discovered that the bacteria "L. plantarum" was key to the fermentation process, and that purging carbon dioxide from brine with nitrogen led to minimal rot and waste. [Etchells, et al., "Factors Influencing Bloater Formation in Brined Cucumbers During Controlled Fermentation," "Journal of Food Science," 1975.]

In 1986, Mt. Olive Pickle co-founded the North Carolina Pickle Festival. ["Thousands Turn Out for N.C. Pickle Festival," "Goldsboro News-Argus," April 29, 2007.]

On December 31, 1999, the Mt. Olive Pickle Company held the first New Year's Eve "pickle drop," in which a glowing green convert|10|ft|m|0|sing=on-high pickle is lowered to the earth at 7pm local time. The event has turned into an annual occurrence and a source of pride for the community.Fact|date=January 2008

In 2005, the Mt. Olive plant had expanded to take up more than convert|970000|sqft|m2|-3 of production space covering convert|110|acre|km2|1.

FLOC boycott

In October 1998, the Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC), a trade union, announced a boycott of Mt. Olive Pickle Company. The union targeted the pickle processor because it believed that growers would not raise wages unless Mount Olive agreed to pay more for growers' cucumbers. [Lecker, "Major Pickle Firm Faces FLOC Boycott in March," "Toledo Blade," October 11, 1998; Zagier, "Pickle Protest Planned," "Charlotte News and Observer," October 11, 1998; Carmen, "Organizer of Union for Migrant Workers Takes on Pickle Giant," "Columbus Dispatch," January 24, 1999; Sengupta, "Farm Union Takes Aim at a Big Pickle Maker," "New York Times," October 26, 2000.]

The union's five-year boycott of Mt. Olive Pickle was ultimately successful. In September 2004, FLOC signed a collective bargaining agreement with Mt. Olive and the growers. More than 6,000 of the state's 10,000 guest workers joined FLOC. More than 1,000 growers agreed to form the North Carolina Growers Association to act as the employers' collective bargaining agent. The Association covered a number of cash crops, such as Christmas trees and tobacco, in addition to cucumbers. [Franklin, "Farm Workers' Group Pushes for Better Pay, Rights," "Chicago Tribune," April 8, 2006; Greenhouse, "North Carolina Growers' Group Signs Union Contract for Mexican Workers," "New York Times," September 17, 2004.]

Notes

References

*Carmen, Barbara. "Organizer of Union for Migrant Workers Takes on Pickle Giant." "Columbus Dispatch." January 24, 1999.
*Etchells, J.L.; Fleming, H.P.; Hontz, L.H.; Bell, T.A.; and Monroe, R.J. "Factors Influencing Bloater Formation in Brined Cucumbers During Controlled Fermentation." "Journal of Food Science." 40:3 (1975).
*Feehan, Jennifer. "FLOC Claims Victory in North Carolina Arrest Case." "Toledo Blade." August 15, 1998.
*Franklin, Stephen. "Farm Workers' Group Pushes for Better Pay, Rights." "Chicago Tribune." April 8, 2006.
*Greenhouse, Steven. "North Carolina Growers' Group Signs Union Contract for Mexican Workers." "New York Times." September 17, 2004.
*"Growing An American Tradition: Mt. Olive Pickle Company: 80 Years." Mt. Olive, N.C.: Mt. Olive Pickle Co., 2006.
*Kornegay, Jr., George R. "Creating Public-Private Partnerships to Develop Rural and Small Town Infrastructure: USDA RURAL DEVELOPMENT Rural Development and Mount Olive, North Carolina." "Agricultural Outlook Forum 2007." March 1, 2007.
*Lecker, Kelly. "Major Pickle Firm Faces FLOC Boycott in March." "Toledo Blade." October 11, 1998.
*Mohan, Anne Marie. "Mt. Olive Packs and Prints Pickles and Peppers." "Packaging Digest." September 2005.
*Sengupta, Somini. "Farm Union Takes Aim At a Big Pickle Maker." "New York Times." October 26, 2000.
*"Thousands Turn Out for N.C. Pickle Festival." "Goldsboro News-Argus." April 29, 2007.
*Zagier, Alan S. "Pickle Protest Planned." "Charlotte News and Observer." October 11, 1998.

External links

* [http://www.ncpicklefest.org/ North Carolina Pickle Festival Web site]