A Golden Beginning…
It all started in late 2002 an itch for entrepreneurship, a love of garlic and cooking, plus frequent requests for “that garlic thing.” Seven Oaks Ranch is the proud manufacturer of the Garlic Gold® line of gourmet, USDA certified organic food products. One of the fastest growing organic food companies, it all began as an 8th grade economics class project for Orion Brutoco and three classmates at Oak Grove school in Ojai, CA. Orion’s dad, Seven Oaks Founder and serial entrepreneur Rinaldo Brutoco, got involved and developed an entrepreneurial training program for the boys.
With imagination and a lot of energy, the students used Rinaldo’s recipe for a home-made condiment (people had enjoyed this in the Brutoco’s home for years) and launched a start-up that turned into a real business: Seven Oaks Farms, Inc. The original product was a combination of hand crafted, crunchy, toasted garlic nuggets and first cold pressed organic extra-virgin olive oil, which the students developed under Rinaldo’s guidance from scratch. They learned how to analyze a prospective market, analyze a prospective product, develop a creative name, develop labels, create pricing models, and how to manufacture the product in quantity. Finally, the students learned how to hand bottle and label the finished goods.
A farmer’s market stand, opened and operated by Rinaldo and the students, soon led to rave reviews—“It’s Crunchy!” They learned how to take that test market data from the local farmer’s market, and refine everything from the consumer feedback into the finished product consumers are enjoying across North America.
In March of 2003, national distribution was obtained through the largest organic produce distributor in the country, Albert’s Organics. Since that time, through the dedication of countless individuals, Garlic Gold® has grown to be carried by more than 3,000 retailers across the country. Still hand crafted with the same love and energy as the first batch made by those young students experiencing entrepreneurship for the first time, Garlic Gold® has grown into a fixture in homes across North America.
Garlic Gold’s® products have become a favorite of world renowned foodies and food bloggers, including David Rosengarten, Chef Emeril and Kath Younger. The company, true to it’s enthusiastic roots in the heart of young students, has grown into a values-based business recognized as one of the Top 20 Organic companies by Ode Magazine, and a leading innovator in the natural and organics industry.
The organic home of Garlic Gold® started at Seven Oaks Ranch, a 12.5 acre organic ranch nestled in the Ojai Valley. As we grew, we moved our production facility to Ventura, CA, where we operate a certified organic kitchen (the only one we know of in Ventura County). Great care is taken to hand craft each of our unique products. Each full time crew member – we’ve created 25 jobs since our launch over seven years ago – receives living wages, health insurance and other benefits. Named ShangriLa (heaven on earth) for it’s breath taking beauty, Ojai provided the perfect backdrop for creating the gourmet delights that we hope you’ll enjoy as much as we enjoy making them.
Our mission is to create meaningful opportunities for individuals in a company where corporate responsibility, sustainability and integrity are considered the legitimate precursors to profit.
