Royal Packing - Donald Hart
Recorded
August 7, 2018
Archived
August 7, 2018
45:04 minutes
0:00 / 0:00
Id:
APP514913
Description
Don Hart, 90, talks about the lettuce business he and his brother Jack Hart and partner Ted Nelson started in Salinas, California in 1948. Royal Packing was an early adopter of vacuum cooling and dry pack technology eliminating traditional ice pack and expensive wooden crates. Royal was a first to pack lettuce fresh in the field, setting Royal up early for the industry move from railway transportation to refrigerated trucks. Royal did what what obvious to the founders but was not common in industry to always ship high quality even if it meant forgoing short term gain by shipping anything less than their “King Size” brand promise. Paying higher than customary wages on top of atypical farm worker benefits, Royal demonstrated respect for the workforce by offering full time working hours, insurance and vacation time. All workers were important and valuable, according to Don, from the office staff the field workers enabling them to collectively achieve the Royal commitment to excellence.Participants
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Donald Hart
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E. Michael Gray