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Food Safety Blog Recipes

Category: Industrial

Calculate Your Onion Savings

Posted on by Foodmix Marketing

When it comes to food preparation, we understand the power of saving chefs time and money. That’s why Gills Onions prides itself on being a value-add product. Our whole-peeled and sliced onions not only taste the best in the industry, but they also shine in the back end of the kitchen as an efficiency star, saving you time, labor and money.

To illustrate how beneficial our onions can be, we love to use the Gills Onions Product Calculator. Learn more about this fantastic tool on our website, and how you – the chef or operator – can calculate your potential annual savings by using Gills Onions.

Use Our Online Savings Calculator For Free

The onion product calculator is simple to use and free to try – so what’s stopping you? We’ll break it down a little to further explain how it works.

  1. First, choose the product you’re measuring. 
  2. Next, select the base cost you would typically pay for this item. 
  3. Third, input the time it typically takes for you to prepare this item. 
  4. The last variable is the hourly wage of whoever prepares the onions, which will vary by region. 

After inputting all of this information, the calculator will automatically populate the fields below.

  • Gross Weight
  • Gross Cost (per lb)
  • Trim Loss
  • Net Usable Weight
  • Net Cost (per lb)
  • Direct Labor Cost (per case)
  • Indirect Labor Cost (per case)
  • True Cost (per case)
  • True Cost (per lb)

Based on these figures, you’ll be able to see just how much the time and money that goes toward preparing your own onions can impact your overall costs—and we’re confident you’ll be pleased with the savings. “I’d say 90% of the time, we beat the price of preparing the product on your own,” said Owner/CEO Steve Gill.

100% Useable Product

One of the reasons Gills Onions saves people so much time and money is that we ship a 100% usable product. This means that with Gills, there is no waste – every last bit of the onions you receive can be incorporated into the kitchen.

“We do have 100% usable product,” said Steve. “Others don’t know what percentage yield they get, and with all the waste that comes with peeling an onion, it makes a lot of sense to buy from somebody like ourselves.”

Eliminate Hidden Labor Costs & Cut Down on Injuries 

One of the key takeaways from the product calculator is the indirect labor costs that come with onion preparation. Time spent cleaning up whisps of onion scales, taking out the trash more often, and taking a moment in the walk-in freezer to let your eyes stop watering all add up! “Onions are the most powerful vegetable in the world,” said Steve. “They make you cry!”

Steve elaborated on this point further, saying, “Usually, the people who are peeling onions feel like they’re being punished. It’s not a glamorous job.”

Our whole peel program enables chefs to get rid of these hidden labor costs, as well as reduce injuries in the kitchen. Gills Onions save you and your staff the headache of peeling, cleanup, waste disposal, and slicing injuries that come with preparing onions on-site.

How Your Team Can Use This Tool Out In The Field

For our operators, the product calculator is also a great tool to use out in the field. When your clients want to talk onions, you can be prepared to show them potential savings instantly. “I always say, get people to look at their savings in a calendar year,” said Megan Jacobsen, Vice President of Sales and Marketing. “Commodity prices on sack onions fluctuate throughout the year, but our whole-peeled onions offer a consistent yield, consistent price, and consistent quality, every single time.”

Try out the product savings calculator today, and start your whole peel journey with Gills.

Ready to try onions grown “The Gill Way?” Contact the Gills Onions sales department to learn more.

Employee Spotlight: Arturo Canales

Posted on by Foodmix Marketing

At Gills Onions, we know that our employees are essential to our success. One of our star team members is Arturo Canales, who expertly mans the helm of our Food Safety & Quality Assurance (FSQA) program. Ensuring Gills Onions’ high food safety standards is no easy feat, so we sat down with Arturo to chat about his time in the FSQA department.

Engineering Mindset Meets Food Safety

Arturo’s path to agriculture wasn’t always straightforward. In fact, his interest was initially triggered while attending the University of California, Davis for chemical engineering. After taking classes in winemaking and coffee production, his interest in the food industry was piqued. While he had internships throughout his college years in chemical engineering roles, he found a lack of an engineering mindset when working in QA departments. He wanted to see how he could combine his skills and knowledge with his passion for the food industry.

After graduating in 2019, Arturo dabbled in different career paths using both his chemical engineering background and his food industry knowledge, from curating sauces for different restaurants to working in fresh fruit processing plants. Eventually, he found his way home to Gills Onions. 

Food Safety Beyond the Field: How Gills Onions Ensures Quality with FSQA

Food safety is a top priority for any company in the food industry, and Gills Onions is no exception. That’s where Arturo Canales and his team come in. As the head of Gills Onions’ FSQA program, Arturo is responsible for ensuring that the company’s products meet the highest safety and quality standards. But what exactly is FSQA, and why is it so important?

FSQA stands for Food Safety and Quality Assurance. It encompasses everything from the auditing criteria and standards for operations, to employee food safety culture, and managing cleaning processes to guarantee safe food. Arturo’s team monitors the onions from the field to the consumer, testing them for pathogens before they’re brought into the facility.

Once our onions have been deemed safe to enter the plant, Arturo’s team monitors the equipment and oversees the onion washing and sanitizing process. They also ensure the sizes and weights of products meet customer specifications and that finished onion products are tested for safety before leaving the facility.

Arturo has been with Gills Onions for just over two years, and in that time, he’s made a real impact on the company’s food safety practices. His background and experience in chemical engineering have brought an invaluable perspective to the FSQA program at Gills Onions.

As the Food Safety and QA Manager, he oversees lab testing, QA technicians, finished product testing, and raw product testing. He and his team work behind the scenes, conducting yeast and mold testing, and shelf life testing, to ensure the company can provide the shelf life we’re known for. 

The 18-day shelf life of Gills Onions’ products is a source of pride for the team, and rightfully so. It’s incredible to think that something we process in California can be enjoyed by someone across the country or even internationally just a few days later.

Arturo Canales’ Typical Week at Gills Onions

So what does a typical day or week look like for someone who manages FSQA? Arturo says it’s all about keeping up with technology and looking for ways to improve systems, whether for food safety or quality. The team uses data to make things more efficient and collaborates with other departments to achieve sustainability goals. And thanks to going paperless in their department, all of their processes are streamlined and easily managed through iPads.

Overall, Arturo and his team play a crucial role in ensuring that Gills Onions’ products are delicious and safe to eat. Their commitment to food safety and quality is a testament to the company’s dedication to providing the best products possible to our customers.

Culture is Key: Why Gills Onions is More Than Just a Company

When we asked Arturo what he loved most about working at Gills Onions, his response was immediate: “It’s the culture.” Thanks to the team’s strong connection, “Communication is excellent, and problem-solving is quick,” he said. Arturo is especially proud of the quality department and how much they work with technology. The systems they’ve implemented are natural, and the team is always open to incorporating new tech and making suggestions for improvement.

“Steve Gill, the owner, plays a big part in this as well,” said Arturo. “He checks in regularly and is involved in everything. It’s refreshing to see an owner who is so open to new ideas and dedicated to incorporating new improvements.” 

Thanks to their dedication to quality and food safety, Arturo and his team have complete confidence in their products. They know they’re providing customers with exceptional quality, and that’s a feeling they take great pride in. 

Follow Your Instincts: Arturo Canales’ Advice for Students in Agriculture

Reflecting on his education and current career path, Arturo has some valuable advice for current and prospective college students: “Follow your instincts. I didn’t necessarily think that I would end up working in agriculture,” said Arturo, “but I enjoy what I do, and I’m grateful that I followed my instincts and kept an open mind about my career options.”

“Sometimes [students] are too focused on what their selected major is, and that closes them off to other opportunities. Be open to different paths,” he said. 

Arturo’s position at Gills Onions is a perfect example of the many different career paths available in agriculture beyond labor on the farm. It’s important for students to realize that there are a whole host of rewarding careers in agriculture that don’t necessarily involve working in the field, and that these jobs can have a huge impact on how food is supplied to the end user.

We’re thrilled to have Arturo on our team, and can’t wait to see what the future holds for Gills, especially in our FSQA program.

Ready to try onions grown “The Gills Way?” Contact the Gills Onions sales department to learn more.

The Gills Industrial Onion Program

Posted on by Foodmix Marketing

Quantity, Quality, and Flavor

When you buy a product by the truckload, you want to know that it’s the very best. At Gills Onions, we work with industrial customers to deliver the very best onions in the industry. We know that industrial operations depend on us to bring them massive amounts of onions with massive amounts of flavor. And, like any onion that goes out of our doors, each piece of an industrial shipment must be fresh. 

Industrial Onions Add Value to Your Operation

Industrial customers buy big batches of onions, and they see big value in return. Many industrial customers operate seasonally. One of our biggest client segments is the tomato sauce industry. When the summer tomato harvest rolls around, our truckloads of fresh onions roll out. 

Fresh cut onions add value to your operation by eliminating inefficiencies. When you purchase bulk fresh cut onions from Gills, you save time, labor, and overall costs. Typically, one in every three loads of bulk onions is onion waste. That’s wasted inventory, wasted time, and wasted transportation costs. Gills solves this problem for you.

Gills Onions offers industrial batches of both whole peeled and diced onions. Our customers benefit from Gills’ industry-leading shelf life. Our industrial diced onion shipments are guaranteed fresh up to 11 days. Whole peeled onion bins stay fresh even longer – up to 18 days after manufacture.

What You Can Do with All Those Onions

Even though our industrial onions arrive in large batches, every piece comes from an onion that was held to the highest individual standards. Our onions are perfectly grown, cleaned, and cut under the watchful eye of expert growers and processors. They arrive to you fresh, flavorful, and ready-to-use. 

So what can you use them for? As we mentioned above, our onions are an essential part of the tomato sauce industry, but they are delicious in other sauces and condiments as well. Some of our industrial customers purchase whole peeled onions and take them to their own processing facilities to create specialty cuts for their own customers. A perfect example is the long, thin slices of onion you find in your favorite fajitas. 

Expand Your Horizons with Gills Onions

Buying in large quantities should never mean compromising on quality. At Gills Onions, we grow, harvest, wash, peel, trim, and cut every onion before it arrives at your facility. We lead the industry in safety and quality assurance practices. From seed to shipment, we can confidently say that our onions are the very best. But don’t take our word for it. Our onions speak for themselves. 

Ready to try onions the Gills Way? For more information, contact the Gills Onions sales department.

Unpeeled: How Sustainability Shapes the Ethos of Our Onion Company

Posted on by Foodmix Marketing

As an abstract concept, sustainability can be overwhelming. When we think about the huge technological advances and structural changes that need to happen in order to change the world, something like a reusable coffee pod might seem minuscule. 

But your individual carbon footprint matters! And so does ours. At Gills Onions, we understand that to make progress toward sustainability, we’ve got to make everyday, realistic changes. Small decisions, both for businesses and consumers, do make a difference.

Our employees understand this conviction as well, which is why sustainability is built into the ethos of our company.

An Overview: Gills Onions Sustainability Program

In 2009, the sustainability program at Gills really began to take shape with the AERS (Advanced Energy Recovery System). This flagship program catapulted Gills into global recognition, and since then, we have evolved and adapted immensely. From generating energy through onion waste to managing refrigeration efficiency, our sustainability program helps us to assess our processes and look for ways to improve continually. 

More recently, the sustainability program has partnered with Cascade Energy and Southern California Edison Company in a two-year Strategic Energy Management (SEM) program. This partnership has been amazing and gives us fresh eyes when looking at improvement throughout the facility. 

Sustainability Is Our Passion

A passion for sustainability fuels the ethos of Gills Onions through each and every department. Because we have seen great energy sustainability results in the past and continue to adapt and change over the years, our employees understand that this push for energy efficiency is not going away any time soon. 

“Our core business is to sell the best onion with the lowest environmental footprint,” says Gills Onions Sustainability Manager Laura Hamman. “Everything we do has to serve that mission.”

How Has Gills Built A Culture Around Sustainability?

Employee buy-in is the acceptance and understanding of a company goal. When employees “buy into” an idea, they are investing in its success and committing to doing their part to make it happen. 

At Gills Onions, we have incredible employee buy-in when it comes to sustainability. In order to foster an environment of unity, there are a few key things we keep in mind.

  • Keep Employees Informed

Every year, our sustainability team holds dedicated meetings to discuss plans and ideas for improving efficiency. In those meetings, we include individuals from various departments – like maintenance – who have a big impact on affecting change. By keeping everyone in the loop and gathering feedback from those who are face-to-face with everyday challenges in the facility, employees truly become a part of Gills’ mission and goal. 

  • Recognize Success 

Another way to encourage a culture built around sustainability is to recognize employees for their ideas and accomplishments. Whether that’s a simple acknowledgment in a meeting or an award for success in improving efficiency, positive reinforcement goes a long way. 

“The enthusiasm is contagious,” says Hamman. “It disarms the apathy.”

  • Learn from Mistakes Together

Lastly, transparency is a huge part of cultivating employee buy-in around sustainability. When things don’t work out, rather than sweeping it under the rug, we let our employees know. 

For example, when our facility failed to recycle some waste containers, we were honest about the mishap so that everyone could learn together and build a culture of trust. “Sometimes, when you get really good at diverting your waste streams, you get eager to recycle everything, but there’s much contamination that can happen,” says Hamman. “It was important to share and let everyone know we’re trying to do better.”

Looking Forward to a Bright Sustainability Future Together

With a great culture of employee buy-in around sustainability, the possibilities are endless. It’s so much easier to move forward with new projects and ideas when you know your team supports the vision you believe in. 

“When you have your strength of conviction, it helps you overcome obstacles,” says Hamman. As our sustainability team looks to the future, they are confident, enthusiastic, and ready for an ever-changing world of opportunities.

Ready to try onions grown “The Gill Way?” Contact the Gills sales department to learn more.

Restaurant Feature: Tacos La Bonita

Posted on by Foodmix Marketing

“No onions, no tacos!” says Maria Agraz, co-owner of Tacos La Bonita in Ventura County, California. At Gills Onions, we work with some of the best restaurants in the business, and Tacos La Bonita, right here in our hometown of Oxnard, California, is an excellent example.

Meet the Dynamic Duo Behind Tacos La Bonita: Maria and Jessica

Tacos La Bonita has been feeding Oxnard for over eight years. Owners Jessica Ochoa and Maria Agraz are a taco dream team. Jessica is the genius behind the flavors, and Maria is the welcoming heart and soul of restaurant. 

The duo initially began as a local catering business, and the food was so popular their customers were practically begging for a place to get more. Jessica and Maria opened their first food truck three years later and added another truck a year after that. Today, they have a fleet of five food trucks – four here in Oxnard and one in Las Vegas – and a brick and mortar restaurant.

You Can’t Have Tacos Without Onions

Tacos La Bonita became a Gills Onions customer shortly after the outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020. It was difficult for everyone to get the food and supplies they needed during the start of the pandemic, and restaurant owners were no exception. Jessica and Maria were having a hard time getting onion deliveries from their regular supplier and would often have to go without. 

Maria recalls one occasion when a customer called to complain that his tacos didn’t have cilantro or onions. He reminded them that a taco without onions is not a taco. 

Maria knew that, “A good taco needs tortillas, meat, onions, cilantro, and a great salsa — and that also needs onions!”

So, they approached our team at Gills Onions, right there in their hometown.

A Partnership Made in Taco Heaven

Our partnership with Tacos La Bonita ended up being a partnership made in taco heaven. Not only were we able to provide their kitchen with a steady supply of high-quality onions in a challenging time of supply and demand, but the onions also allowed them to increase their speed and output. Gone are the days of having to peel and dice their own onions by hand, a process that significantly slows down production time and increases the risk of kitchen accidents. 

On average, it takes 90 minutes to whole peel and dice a 50 lb sack of onions, and all that knife work is the reason why cuts, lacerations, and punctures are the number one most common injury in commercial kitchens. Value-added diced onions eliminate these problems, and our Gills Diced Onions are always recipe ready.

Today, Tacos La Bonita’s team is working smarter and safer and getting customers their food faster. 

“When I see Gills Onions in stores and in our kitchen I am filled with pride,” Maria says. “We always get our onions on time, and Gills customer service is amazing.” That reliability in quality and service is essential because as we now know, “No onions, no tacos!”

You can find Tacos La Bonita on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok, or visit their four food trucks and mini restaurant here in Oxnard, CA, as well as their newest food truck in Las Vegas. 

Ready to speed up the day-to-day work in your kitchen and level up your food the “Gills Way?” Contact our sales department to learn more.

Onions – The Unsung Hero

Posted on by Foodmix Marketing

Article Originally Published in Flavor & The Menu

As kitchen ingredients go, onions often don’t get the respect they deserve. While flashier seasonal products – looking at you, truffles, morels and spring peas – often hog the spotlight with special menu items created around them, the ever-present onion remains in the background doing its important work with little or no fanfare or attention.

At Gills Onions, however, it’s a much different story. What began in 1983 as a passion project of brothers and fourth-generation farmers Steve and David Gill to offer the highest quality, sustainably grown fresh-cut onion products to its foodservice and retail customers, has become one of the largest family-owned onion growers and processors in the world. Using a three-pronged approach to its onion farming that focuses on innovation, conservation and sustainability, Gills ensures their onions have the best growing conditions and the lowest environmental impact.

To help shed some light on their unique onion growing process, Gills Onions recently hosted a true farm-to-table experience for a group of chefs at one of their farms in Bakersfield, Calif.

“It was eye opening to taste through many onions and learn the details of the farming that result in such a superior product,” says Chef Chris Shackelford of Trelio Food and Wine in Clovis, Calif.

Creating a superior product starts with using the highest quality soil that is rich in macro- and micronutrients, which in turn creates a strong root system aiding in withstanding pests and extreme weather. Raised from seed to harvest by their experts, Gills’ onions are processed in their own facility, guaranteeing they are in control of the entire process up until their onions arrive at customers’ doors.

TRACING QUALITY

“Product tracing is extremely important,” says Chef Michael Ponzio of Chicago’s Union League Club. “Knowing the care and attention that goes into a product I buy helps ensure that my customers are receiving a quality product from a safe and reliable vendor. We have so many options now, so it is our responsibility to provide our customers with the best products.”

Gills Onions’ Steve Gill echoes that sentiment. “At Gills, we have the ability to trace the product all the way back to the field. Traceability should not stop at the distributor level; it needs to have the ability to be traced all through the supply chain.”

For Shackelford, the ability to trace a product to its source is not only vital for food safety but also plays a role in food consistency. “Agriculture can vary year to year and knowing a farmer that has put considerable effort into the terroir and farming practices ensures that we are cooking with a consistent piece of produce each time,” he says.

Getting a glimpse firsthand into the sustainable symbiotic waste-powered energy solution Gills Onions employs – including converting 100 percent of their onion waste into emissions-free electricity—was another pleasant discovery for the chefs. “Their sustainability practices blew my mind,” says Ponzio. “It is amazing how they use their own byproduct to make methane for their production, and how a business that size could be so environmentally friendly.”

Available in a variety of formats, ranging from diced and sliced to slivered and whole peeled, Gills Onions arrive 100 percent washed—ensuring that the unsanitary dirt and bacteria common with unpeeled onions isn’t brought into your kitchen—and ready to use. “We’ve worked hard to achieve an 18-day shelf life to ship into every market within the U.S. and Canada,” says Gill, adding that their onions’ strong cellular structure translates to less odor and can be cut with fewer tears. “This level of quality does not happen by accident.”

And chefs have taken notice.

“It’s not easy as a chef to commit to buying processed products, but Gills takes the time to focus on their quality and shelf life ensuring that the peeled onions we get are even better than the whole commodity ones we used to buy,” says Ponzio. “This helps my team save time, be more productive and actually increases our quality.”

Ready to try onions the Gills Way? For more information, contact our sales department.

Our Year-Round Onion Supply

Posted on by Foodmix Marketing

The Secret to Storing Onions 

At Gills Onions, we deliver the best and freshest onions to our customers year-round, but we only harvest onions from April to November. What do we do the rest of the year? The answer is storage for our onions. Storing onions is an art. It’s one that we’ve perfected over many years with our special onion-growing prescription. It starts with seed selection and ends with a delicious Gills onion arriving in your kitchen. And if we’ve done our job correctly, you’ll never be able to tell which onions are storage onions and which are coming to you in-season. 

Our Unique Approach

Storing onions isn’t unique to our operation. Onions are only harvested certain months of the year, but society uses onions all year long. The only way to keep supplying the onions year-round is to store them. You’ve probably been using storage onions your whole life and simply never realized it. What does make Gills Onions unique is how we approach the storing process. Storage onions have to stay fresh for around six months in cold storage. The storage season starts in September or October each year and extends all the way until April. That’s why seed selection and onion variety are so crucial. 

Gills Onions currently grows around a dozen varieties of onions. These varieties are selected for their flavor and longevity. Then, the seeds are matched with growing environments that will produce the best results from hot, more desert-like environments to fields in cooler regions like Bakersfield, King City, and the Salinas Valley. During the growing process, adjustments must be made for onions that will be spending time in storage. We pull back on the use of fertilizers and nitrogen to allow calcium in the onions to build a strong cell wall that will withstand natural cellular breakdowns that occur over time. At harvest time, onions are dug up and cured in the sun for 7 to 10 days. Curing is an essential part of the storage process. Onions that aren’t cured properly will decay quickly in storage. Bulk onion operations place unpeeled onions loose or in bags into a cold storage warehouse. Often, heat is used to dry out the onions and prevent decay, but this can mean sacrificing flavor. 

As a fresh cut processor, our onions are harvested, sorted and placed into bins before storing. The onions are also pre-cooled to gradually bring them down to storage temperatures. This gradual cooling keeps the onions from sweating and building up moisture that causes mold. In storage, the onions are kept at 34 degrees Fahrenheit and 75% humidity for optimum freshness. During the storage season, the onions are routinely checked for quality. Onions with internal or external decay, sun damage, or mechanical damage from the peeling process are removed from storage. The onions’ color can also be an indicator of freshness. Yellow or green centers mean an onion is reaching its point of longevity for storage.

Making a Great Storage Onion 

Some varieties of onions naturally stay fresh longer than others, and even the most subtle physical attributes, like shape, can affect the way an onion withstands the storing process. Storage onions should have single centers instead of multiple centers. Those with double or triple centers break down faster, and won’t stay fresh for long. We constantly evaluate and re-evaluate how each variety of onion is performing in storage. Like any crop, onion genetics change over time. If a variety we have loved is now producing onions with undesirable attributes – like multiple centers – we stop using it and replace it with a better-performing variety. Quality always comes first. 

Year-Round Quantity with Gills Onions Quality 

At Gills Onions, we are dedicated to providing the best onions at the best price. We take our responsibility to our environment, our customers, and of course, our onions, seriously. With our strict storage onions growing program, we can deliver the best tasting and freshest product year-round. Our customers get consistent quality, a consistent price, and consistent availability all 365 days of the year. 

But don’t take our word for it. Our onions speak for themselves. 

Ready to try onions grown “The Gills Way”? Contact our sales department to learn more.

Moving Onions Across America: Get to Know Gills Freight

Posted on by Foodmix Marketing

Our job is to get millions  of pounds of the highest quality onions from our fields to America’s tables, but we can’t do it alone. That’s where our wonderful team at Gills Freight comes in to save the day. 

Gills Freight drivers move our raw onion products from the fields to our state-of-the-art processing facility. They also make sure necessary equipment makes it to the right fields at the right time throughout the onion growing process. It’s a very complicated – and essential – part of what we do. 

Let’s take a look at a day in the life of a Gills Freight driver. 

Organization: The Key to Success

Ron Perry, a 30+ year employee of Gills Onions, is currently the head of Gills Freight. He manages the teams of drivers that transport raw onions from the fields and the teams that carry products to cross docks where it is loaded and shipped through the U.S. and Canada. 

By the time most of us are snoozing our alarm clocks, Ron has been up making things happen for hours. His day starts about 4:30 a.m. with the dispatch board. The board tells every driver what they are doing for the day and where they are driving. It’s Ron’s job to make sure the board is always up to date and that onions and equipment are being picked up and delivered on schedule. He’ll also look ahead at the rest of the week to determine how many loads will need to be hauled in the coming days. Drivers will typically know exactly what they will be doing from Monday through Saturday. Planning is everything, and Ron is the first line of defense.

About 6 a.m. it’s time to head to the shipping office and review invoicing and paperwork for the loads that went out the night before and for the loads of onion products that will be moved that day. It doesn’t matter how many onions are moved if there isn’t accurate documentation. Ron determines the freight costs for every order that takes place. 

The rest of the day is filled with supporting drivers. Ron responds to any problems that arise, coordinates scheduled maintenance, and tracks and communicates estimated arrival times for each truck. It’s a demanding job, but Ron makes it look easy.  

Where the Rubber Meets the Road

Gills Freight drivers are where the rubber meets the road. They operate powerful machinery with unmatched safety and reliability. Different drivers operate different routes depending on the time of year, but in the spring they typically pull out of Bakersfield. That means the day starts at base at 3:30 in the morning. 

The drivers arrive in Bakersfield at about 6 a.m. and load up. At minimum, one truck can transport 52,000 pounds of the world’s best onions. They fill out their paperwork – remember, that paper trail is super important – and hit the road again. Drivers usually arrive back at the Oxnard facility around 10 a.m. The day is just starting for many Gills Onions employees, but it’s a wrap for our drivers. They’ll check the almighty dispatch board to see what their next day of hauling looks like before heading home to get some rest. 

But that’s a short haul. 

Sometimes drivers have a long haul that requires stopping and sleeping overnight then continuing to drive the next day. During these trips, drivers can drive 250, 450, and even 520 miles a day. Over the course of a year, our freight drivers typically travel 100 to 150 thousand miles. 

That’s why reliability and safe driving skills are essential qualities of a Gills Onions Freight driver. We’re lucky to have members of our team that have been with us for over 15 years and know their jobs like the back of their hand. Three of our drivers have even won Ryder’s Truck Driver of the Year. 

Bringing Our Onions to You

The biggest challenge of working in Gills Freight is also the thing that our team enjoys the most: No day is ever the same as the last. Transport needs are always changing, and it keeps things interesting. 

We couldn’t be prouder of our Gills Freight team. They keep us up and running and make sure that our onions get to where they need to be – and ultimately, to you. 

So, the next time you open up a bag of Gills Onions, remember what it took to get those delicious vegetables into your hands, and send up a little thank you to drivers that made it possible. 

Ready to try onions the Gills Way? For more information, contact our sales department.

Tackling Supply Chain Struggles by Eliminating Waste

Posted on by Foodmix Marketing

Across North America, the supply chain is facing an unprecedented crisis. Transportation rates – the cost of trucking products from place to place – are rising, while the availability of equipment and manpower is falling. What does this mean for the industry, and what can we all do to help?

Rising Rates, Labor Shortages, and Other Challenges

Every day, companies ship goods across North America. From coast to coast, border to border, this is how essential products, including the food you eat every day, get to you. But, transportation comes at a price. In April of 2020, a load moving from California to Boston cost a produce company $6,400. In April of 2021, the cost was $10,600.

In the past, it wasn’t unheard of that peak demand summer rates rose to the $10,000 mark, but never in recent memory have rates risen this much so early in the year. In fact, experts predict that transportation rates could be 35 to 50 percent higher this summer than in previous years.

Why the rapid spike? A perfect storm of less than ideal conditions post pandemic shares a majority of the blame. Supply chain interruptions have made it difficult for shippers to secure equipment and drivers. Health and safety concerns during COVID-19 as well as the availability of stimulus and increased unemployment benefits have encouraged some drivers to leave the business altogether.

While it’s hard to predict the outcome, many industry leaders think this domino effect will continue for quite some time. For the time being the reality is this: higher prices and tighter truck supply.

How Gills Onions Can Help

So, what can you do to help alleviate the stress put on the shipping industry and still get products to market? When it comes to fresh produce – especially onions – one of the biggest boosts producers and customers can give is eliminating waste.

There are more than 400 truckloads of bulk onions shipped and consumed in the United States every day. The equivalent of one out of every three truckloads is waste. That means that growers, shippers, and customers are footing the bill to transport thousands of pounds of garbage.

When you purchase Gills Onions, you are buying 100% usable product. Every pound of onions that is shipped to you can be used in your kitchen. It also means that precious trucks aren’t wasted moving useless freight.

Eliminating waste also translates into financial savings for every part of the supply chain. With fresh cut, value-added produce, no one is footing the bill for transporting thousands of dollars of unusable material.

Thinking About Long-term Sustainability

Dedication to eliminating waste doesn’t just save money. It also helps the environment. When shippers can do more with fewer trucks on the road, it reduces emissions and fossil fuel consumption, wear and tear on infrastructure, and more.

While we have to face the realities of the current shipping crisis, we can’t forget the long-term effects that our choices make on the future of our planet. As an industry, we can make choices that help out shippers and customers and also move us toward a more sustainable status quo.

We’re grateful for the wonderful team at Gills Freight that moves our raw products from the fields to our processing facility. Without them, it would be impossible to get millions of pounds of the world’s best onions to America’s tables. We’re also grateful for the men and women all over the country who keep the supply chain up and running. Even in challenging times, we know that by working together, we can continue to do what we all do best.

Ready to try onions the Gills Way? For more information, contact our sales department.

Finding the Value in Value-Added Produce

Posted on by Foodmix Marketing

Value-added produce is valuable. It seems like a no-brainer – after all, “value” is in the name. But there are many ways that value-added fresh produce can help businesses. From food safety, to reduced costs, to consistent quality, value-added is just that – super valuable.

Value-Add Number One: Save on Labor Costs

One of the most labor-intensive tasks in any commercial kitchen is prepping fresh produce. Prepping a raw bulk onion order is the perfect example. One 50 lb sack contains an average of 200 individual onions. That’s a lot of peeling, washing, and cleaning up – all before you even begin to dive into cutting.

That prep work takes manpower, and labor is a commodity that is getting increasingly harder to find. The United States is experiencing a nationwide labor shortage, and as minimum wage and other employee costs increase, retaining an adequate workforce is becoming more and more difficult. Value-added produce arrives sliced, diced, and ready-to-use, which saves businesses time and money. Instead of prepping onions, employees can dedicate time to other essential tasks.

Once you have a reliable workforce in place, you don’t want to lose them to injury. Cuts are the number one most common injury in commercial kitchens. Value-added fresh produce means less cutting and less risk.

Value-Add Number Two: Consistent Yield and Quality

When you purchase bulk vegetables, you can never be quite sure exactly what you are going to get. Did you know that a third of a sack of bulk onions is waste? That means you aren’t really getting 50 lbs of usable onion in that 50 lb sack.

On the other hand, when you buy value-added onions, you know exactly what you are going to get. Value-added onions arrive with consistent quality and consistent yield every time. When you buy a 30 lbs box of Gills Whole Peeled Onions, you get 30 lbs of ready-to-use onions.

Plus, the cost of value-added products doesn’t change by season or based on demand. That means you get the bonus benefit of consistent pricing, too.

Value-Add Number Three: Cleaner Kitchen

Unprepped, raw vegetables can bring unsanitary dirt and bacteria into your kitchen. Raw bulk onions are one of the worst offenders. Our testing shows that bulk onions can contain 100 to 1000 times more bacteria, yeasts, and molds than our value-added onions. The minute contaminants enter your kitchen, they can spread to other surfaces and foods.

Value-added produce increases your confidence that your kitchen, and the food leaving it, is clean and safe for everyone.

Ready, Get Set, Get Value-Added

At Gills Onions, we know that value-added fresh produce is one of the most valuable investments you can make. It improves nearly every aspect of foodservice, from the time ingredients arrive in your kitchen to the time someone eats your food. Value-added produce means less prep, less waste, more safety, and — if you’re using Gills Onions – more taste. So don’t wait. Start adding value to your business with value-added fresh produce today.

Ready to try onions grown “The Gills Way”? Contact our sales department to learn more. 

Perfectly Pureed Onions

Posted on by Foodmix Marketing

Let’s talk about puree. 

Our pureed onions are another great addition to the Gills Onions line-up of value-added products. They represent a niche space in our fresh onion offering — but it’s a delicious space. Take a look at how our pureed onions are made and some of the unique ways they can be used in your kitchen. 

Value-Added Onions in a Perfect Puree

Gills Pureed Onions start exactly like the rest of our fresh-cut onion products. Each onion seed is planted and nurtured “The Gill Way” with our signature onion-growing prescription. Those seeds grow into the industry’s best tasting and longest lasting onions. Then, they arrive at our state-of-the-art processing facility, destined to become a perfect puree. 

We puree onions on the first and third Friday of every month. Gills Yellow Onions enter whole and exit as a finely diced puree, packaged with 1.5% citric acid in a 38-pound pail. Every batch of pureed onions is Kosher-certified and gluten-free. Gills Onions’ industry-leading shelf-life extends to our pureed pails. When packaging and storing instructions are followed, the product remains fresh up to 30 days from the date of manufacture. 

Working with the Smooth Taste of Pureed Onions

Pureed onions can be the secret ingredient your recipes have been missing. The pureed form makes the onions easy to combine into a variety of dishes, bringing delicious onion flavor without the crunchy onion texture. 

Use pureed onions to spice up your signature salad dressing or selection of sauces. You can also try adding pureed onions to sausages or hot dogs for a bonus burst of flavor. Pureed onions can serve as an alternative to cream in soups and risottos to make vegan-friendly options or to simply enjoy a bright onion flavor. 

For an upscale feel, season and plate onion puree as a stand-alone dish that accompanies steak, pork, or chicken. 

Life Is Easier and Better with Gills Onions

Gills Pureed Onions eliminate unnecessary labor from your kitchen and save you valuable prep time. You no longer have to fear knife injuries, and you get the value-add of easy storage and a  long shelf life. 

From pureed to whole peeled to diced and sliced, Gills Onions has every type of onion you need to create truly unforgettable dishes. We are onion experts. It’s what we do, and we do it best. But don’t take our word for it. Our onions speak for themselves. 

Ready to try onions the Gills Way? For more information, contact our sales department.