Hard work and conviction have helped shape Christopher’s
operation into a garlic empire
Speak the last name Christopher and you begin to smell garlic. Speak the name Gilroy and you hear “Oh yeah, garlic capital of the world.” That’s just the way Don Christopher of Christopher Ranch likes it.
Driving a one-day-old, garlic-colored Bentley, Christopher maintains a fresh winter tan, not from a sun-filled day in the fields but a well-earned week spent on a beach in Maui. The year 1978 seems like a lifetime ago for Christopher, but that year marked the beginning of Gilroy’s garlic fame when the first Garlic Festival was held in a field near Gavilan College. Christopher was on the planning committee for that first festival, but the rise to garlic-expert notoriety began many years before.
Prune growing was all Don Christopher knew back in 1955 when he ventured away from the family business and found 130 acres for sale along Highway 25 in Gilroy. The Christopher family farmed land in San Jose at the time Don headed south.
“I paid $1,200 an acre which was the highest price paid up to that time. I heard grumbling amongst the farmers about ‘those San Jose people,'” he said.
Coming from a family of immigrant Danes, Christopher knew hard work would prove his worthiness and Gilroy would be his home. Not wanting to show favoritism amongst his sons, Don’s father agreed to loan the down payment for the property to both Don and his brother Art. The Christopher brothers got to work planting row crops of sugar beets, lima beans and garlic, crops Christopher admits he knew nothing about growing.
“I used to ask my neighbors when I should disk or scrape,” he recalled. “They helped me and I think they were entertained with the fact I didn’t know what I was doing.”
There were few employees in those days. Christopher drove the tractor, moved the irrigation pipes and sold the garlic. For six years, Christopher sold his garlic to the only man in the area making money with garlic, Joe Gubser, who acted as the middle man selling the Christopher garlic to packing houses. When Christopher planted garlic in Aromas with a new partner, Gerry Rianda, rain soaked the cloves and the garlic went dark (the pigment from the soil infiltrated the skin on the clove). When Christopher could not find a buyer for the raw dark garlic, he found a third partner, Bob Kishimura, to help him pack the garlic under a large oak tree. Kishimura had the necessary equipment for packing – a forklift and a truck. Veteran garlic man Joe Gubser doubted Christopher’s resolve and said he’d never find a buyer.
“It was a hot summer,” Christopher said. “I remember ladies who were helping us would pass out in the heat. We would put cold cloths on their foreheads. Then they came to and started to pack again. When we were done and had the garlic loaded on the truck we drove by Joe Gubser’s place and honked the horn. I guess we were young and cocky then. The next day, Joe came by the tree and bought the rest of the crop.” Whether Gubser figured Christopher and Kishimura called his bluff or decided these young entrepreneurs were a force to be reckoned with has been lost in the memories of those involved. In 1961 the tree was replaced by Christopher’s first packing shed.
“They did it right back then. The families all worked together. They didn’t get rich but they worked,” Christopher said, remembering his own three sons working out on the harvesters in the field.
By 1965, Christopher Ranch expanded its crops by planting strawberries, cherries and Bartlett pears. They began growing lettuce in the Bolsa area of Gilroy (near highways 25 and 101) along with bell peppers and flowers for seed. In the mid 1970s, tragedy struck the Christopher family. Don’s middle son, Richard Christopher, fell asleep at the wheel of his car returning home late from working as a counselor at a local 4H camp. Richard was killed in the accident. The news rocked the small community as well as devastated the tight-knit farming family.
“He was my farm boy. When we were harvesting Richard would be right in there with the dirt and dust,” Christopher said. Reflecting on the loss, he adds, “You’re never the same person after you lose a child. I’m not.”
Despite the grief, Christopher Ranch continued to expand, and in 1978, Don helped start the Fresh Garlic Association to promote garlic. Dr. Rudy Melone, then president of Gavilan College, introduced the idea of a garlic festival.
“We all said, Rudy, that’s too much work,” remembers Christopher chuckling over the irony. Melone persevered bringing in Gilroy Rotary to sponsor a small scale event at Christopher Ranch. “The smartest thing we did was to hire Carol Sanders, a nationally known public relations expert and promoter.”
With Val Filice cooking along with chefs from San Francisco, Sanders convinced food editor Betsy Balsley from the Los Angeles Times to come to the event. Don remembers, “Betsy grabbed me and said ‘you have to have a garlic festival.’ ” The rest of the story can be read on national news. Don Christopher has not missed a Gilroy Garlic Festival since.
There have been many firsts for Christopher Ranch as a business.
“We were the first to use drip irrigation in the area. This increased our production tremendously. We were also the first to have an onsite preschool and I was the first to hire a female manager in the produce industry. Carol Nishimoto was her name and she could talk like a truck driver,” recalls Christopher.
The secret to Don’s success?
“I strive to increase everything by 10 percent every year. I also try to never burn a bridge. You never know when you might have to cross it again,” explains Christopher.
As a man with many friends in the region, Don meets and greets as he goes. During our interview Don was the familiar face in Mamma Mia’s. Stopping by the table and friends for more than 40 years,
Local developer Bob Dyer, former head of entertainment and promotion with the Garlic Festival, greeted Don with a hearty handshake and traded reciprocal compliments on each other’s trim figures laughing as Bob explained, “At our age you’ve got to do whatever you can to have an edge!” The other produce king sitting parallel to us in the restaurant, Michael Bonfante, cracked a smirk and said nothing.
“If I wasn’t a farmer I’d be a salesman or a business man … but I’m a farmer at heart. I looked forward to Monday. I guess I was a workaholic but I didn’t see it that way. My three sons were in sports and I was able to go to their games.”
These days Don Christopher has stepped down from the helm of Christopher Ranch and given the task of the day to day operation to his son Bill Christopher. His other son, Robert, provides legal counsel for the corporation along with owning his own legal firm. Don has five grandchildren and with his wife, Karen, now finds time to travel.
“I started slowing down about four years ago. I thought it would tank without me but last year was our best year,” he said, desipite the fact that China has changed the scene of garlic growing these days.
The American growers used to know what the year’s domestic yields would be but they can’t seem to monitor the Chinese market with accuracy due to variables in overseas weather patterns. The guess work of whether to plant domestically or not seems a costly gamble. Christopher Ranch has adjusted their production from 100 million pounds to 65 million pounds.
“We’ve started to buy from China. Bill has visited there several times. They treat him very well. We’re the biggest shipper of garlic in the United States. We ship 50 percent of California garlic out through our operation in Gilroy.” Former Christopher Ranch plant manager from 1992-1997, now county supervisor Don Gage, recalls the challenge of the Chinese market but remembers the generosity of his employer, “Don is a very generous individual. When he decides to donate something that is needed in the community he is very involved and sees it through. He is very much a gentleman and a good host. When he does something he spares no expense.”
Don Christopher smiles when he says, “Gilroy is garlic!
That’s why I named our very best garlic products Festival Brands.”
The claim, “I’m just a farmer”, doesn’t adequately describe one of Gilroy’s most famous entrepreneurs. Don Christopher remains one of the most likeable and successful products of Gilroy’s fertile community.
