We always tell our customers, “We’re the onion experts. It’s what we do, and we do it best.” There are many reasons we can stand by that statement.
Gills Onions has been family owned since 1983. We’ve grown a lot since then, but our values have remained the same. We’re dedicated to supplying the best and safest onions in the industry — from our family to yours.
Our Farming Legacy
Our story began with two brothers, Steve and David Gill, fourth generation California farmers who grew up on a small farm in King City. The Gill brothers were intimately involved in their family farming operation, but they had bigger plans. Together, Steve and David expanded the family farming business to more than 20,000 acres in California. They also partnered with other growers to add an additional 10,000 acres of usable farmland to the operation.
Thanks to Steve and David’s dedication, our family farm values remain the same. We’re still family owned, and many of our employees have been with us since the beginning. There are even multiple generations of families working with us to create quality, delicious onions. This is the true legacy of farming that Gills Onions represents.
Dedicated to Innovation, Conservation, and Sustainability
Our passion has always been exploring new technologies and methods to maximize conservation and efficiency in all areas of our business. We want to be able to continue providing high quality products to our customers while preserving the fields for future generations.
We believe healthy soil leads to healthy plants. So, we treat our soil with the utmost care. Healthy soil allows our growers to reduce their usage of chemicals. The resulting plants are also healthier and better able to withstand harsh weather, insects, and disease.
Farming onions “The Gill Way” has reduced our growers’ use of nitrogen by more than 50% compared to other onion growing operations, helping preserve the environment and our precious resources.
In 2009, Gills Onions made a goal to achieve zero waste in our processing, warehouse, and office facilities. We track all of our resource usage from the types of fuel we use to electricity and water. We also keep a detailed inventory of greenhouse gas emissions and report it yearly to The Climate Registry.
Through the implementation of wide-range recycling programs and the expansion of waste reduction initiatives, our company’s waste diversion reached 99.2% in 2018. Gills Onions has also reduced water consumption by 40%. That means we conserve enough water each year to meet the annual needs of 2,900 households in our home state of California.
By collaborating with innovators across the United States over several years, Gills Onions was able to develop the Advanced Energy Recovery System (AERS) which converts onion waste into ultra-clean, virtually emissions-free electricity. The AERS provides the equivalent of enough power to supply 460 homes for an entire year. It also eliminates 14,500 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions each year.
We’ve been able to cut operational costs, increase efficiency, improve our resource management, and create greater energy independence as we pursue innovations in environmental sustainability. We want to lead the charge for effective policies and practices that benefit all stakeholders — our business, our farmers, our customers, and our earth. By demonstrating responsibility and leadership, we hope to encourage environmentally-friendly initiatives in our nation and in our industry.
A Leader in Food Safety
At Gills Onions, we are committed to setting the standard in food safety. That’s why we go above and beyond to protect the integrity of our product through every step of processing and shipment. In recent years, we’ve overhauled more than 32,000 square feet of our facilities to replace walls, ceilings, and floors with a continuous epoxy and fiberglass material. This eliminated the presence of even the smallest seams where water could collect and allow bacteria to grow and made it easier for our staff to clean and sanitize every inch of our plant.
Our in-house laboratory oversees and verifies the cleanliness of both our product and our equipment. Every employee from the maintenance department to the production team receives food safety training. All of these practices allow us to guarantee that you are welcoming the safest possible food into your kitchen.
The Gill Way
We said it once, and we’ll say it again: We know onions. It’s what we do, and we do it best.
Gills Onions has grown over the years, but, at our heart, we haven’t changed. From the beginning, Steve and David Gill have had one goal in mind: quality. That quality is something you can see, smell, and, most importantly, taste. Our key to success has been to practice what we preach. Through our dedication to innovation, conservation, sustainability, and safety, Gills Onions remains a proud part of the legacy that is American farming.
But don’t take our word for it. Our onions speak for themselves.
