National Frozen Foods marks 100 years of operation

MOSES LAKE - The progression from canned goods to frozen goods can be traced with the history of National Frozen Foods in Moses Lake.

The food processor turns 100 this weekend and is holding a private celebration for employees and vendors to mark the occasion.

The food processing firm started out as National Fruit Canning Company in Olympia in 1912 now has plants in Moses Lake, Quincy, Chehalis and Albany, Ore.

William Peck McCaffrey opened National Fruit Canning with his brother-in-law, Mark Ewald.

The company changed its name in 1987 to National Frozen Foods and has since gotten out of the canning business, explained Gary Ash, general manager at the company's Moses Lake plant.

During an interview with the Columbia Basin Herald, he outlined the company's earlier years, progression and current operations.

Back in the 1950s and 1960s, frozen vegetables were expensive and only well-to-do people bought them, he said.

Many people canned fruits and vegetables, as frozen foods were somewhat expensive until after World War II.

In the 1960s and 1970s, Americans were able to buy large freezers for their food storage and the frozen food industry grew.

The company moved completely to frozen food processing in 1965.

Today, business is picking up because of export and feeding the world, he said.

Other changes include the business's ownership. It is no longer family-owned.

The Portland, Ore. investment group Endeavor Capital acquired National Frozen Foods, which is not publicly held.

This is Ash's 42nd season with the company. His first four seasons were completed while he was in college.

He started out in Burlington and managed the company's plant there for almost 30 years.

He said employees stay with the company for many years.

An employee is considered a newcomer during their first 10 years of service, he said.

"We have maintained the family values and virtues of our business," Ash says.

At the Moses Lake plant, 85 people work there full-time, Ash said.

The company employs about 350 seasonal employees six months out of the year.

In Moses Lake, the company contracts with growers to raise from 25,000 to 30,000 acres of peas, sweet corn, Lima beans and carrots.

In Moses Lake, the first crop of the year is peas, which usually starts June 1 and is a 50 million-pound crop.

The second crop, sweet corn, begins in mid-July, runs three months and totals between 75 to 80 million pounds. Half of the crop is used for cut corn and the other half is reserved for cob corn.

Lima beans are squeezed in between corn, considered a minor crop and total between 4 million and 6 million pounds of production.

The next crop is carrots, which come diced and made into shoestring. Between 20 million and 30 million pounds of carrots are produced per season.

The Quincy plant employs about a dozen full-time employees and between 75 and 100 seasonal employees.

The company packs more than 100 different labels for "virtually" every retailer in the U.S. Customers can find the product in Walmart, Costco and Trader Joe's stores.

About 12 percent of National Frozen Foods' business is exported, mostly to Japan and China.

National Frozen Foods harvests all of the crops itself, except for carrots, Ash said.

For more information, visit www.nffc.com.