When my great grandfather, Charles F. Seabrook, purchased the South Jersey farm from his father in 1912, he wanted Seabrook Farms to be a pioneer in the growing, storing, and selling of fresh healthy vegetables.
He made his farm one of the first ever to use overhead irrigation and gasoline-powered tractors and then expanded the farm to include a canning and freezing facility. And yet, the bottom line was always the same: provide consumers with the best quality, freshest-tasting vegetables. Today, the Seabrook family grows, processes, and freezes 150 million lb of vegetables from the Garden State each year, still operating with the same vision.
We’re now in our fourth generation. What keeps us in business is the will to continue to get better at what we’re doing. Being able to change is the best thing you can do for your company. When I look at how the oldest companies survive, it really is all about change. Back in the old days, we had about 7,000 employees. We’re now providing even more of the same products and services than ever before with 450 employees. And technology made working in the fields more efficient and productive when we replaced the old mule-drawn farm equipment with the first Caterpillar tractors.
Ahead of the curve and the competition
To most shoppers along the East Coast, Seabrook Farms is known for crisp frozen green beans and a frozen creamed spinach. But a large part of the business at Seabrook is actually the processing and freezing of vegetables for other manufacturers. In 1978, we decided it was time to reinvigorate that pioneering sprit that kept the Seabrook name alive. To meet higher demand and increased volume, the company would have to find ways to process and freeze higher quantities faster and more efficiently.
When we took a hard look at operating costs and efficiencies, we determined that a major expense was the boiler. Our business relies a great deal on that boiler for flash steaming, cooking, and freezing. And with the old one we were losing a lot of time and money. First, a fire tube boiler takes a very long time to start up. Walking in on Monday morning and firing up the boiler meant hours and hours of non-productivity.
Another option would have been to keep the boiler running through the weekend without actually using it, but New Jersey law required a certified boiler operator to be with the boiler at all times that it is running. Both options seemed to be a waste of time and money.
Steam generation
