Gills Onions Plants Seeds for Growth at New, Larger Facility

Steve Gill, a partner in the Gills Onions processing and distribution operation, couldn’t help but notice the seven vacant buildings on a 13 3/4-acre property adjacent to his Oxnard plant.

He figured the facilities, most recently used by the U.S. Department of Energy for the forging of weapons casings, would make a nice, new home for a company that’s currently squeezed into a 1 1/2-acre site.

So when the property came up for sale, Gill was thrilled.

“It was vacant for about two years, and about a year ago, the government decided to sell it,” Gill said. “I really wanted to get it. And it happened. I never thought it would.”

Gills Onions officials won a bid for the property and last week were handed the keys to their new $2.2-million facility. After a $4-million cleanup and construction job, they expect to begin occupying the buildings by next summer and to be fully operational in about 2 1/2 years.

At 86,000 square feet, the new buildings provide more than three times the space of the current location. Gill said the additional room will enable Gills to consolidate its warehousing and cooling operations and add a number of onion-peeling machines, changes that should help the company at least triple its current output.

Gills Onions peels and processes about 1 million pounds of onions weekly.

“It takes a lot of machinery to get onions peeled and to get the volume out,” Gill said. “This will allow us to add four times the peeling and processing machinery.”

Gill said the increased production also should allow the company to expand into new markets--providing diced onions to the food service, fast food and restaurant industries and new packaged products to the retail market.

The company now distributes its onions to canners, who use the vegetables in sauces and salsas, and to food service operations that dice and slice them for restaurants.

Gills Onions contracts with onion growers in the Imperial Valley, Fresno County, King City and Salinas. Most of the onions processed by the company come from Rio Farms, which operates farms in each of those regions. Gills Onions originally was the processing arm of Rio Farms before breaking off on its own in 1983.

The new Gills Onions facility will house the Rio Farms administrative offices.