Category: Business

Construction Up In Tulare County

New home construction in Tulare County picked up in 2012 according  to figures provided by Construction Monitor. For 2012,permits for 547 news homes were issued vs 291 for all of 2011. That remains a fraction of what was permitted annually in Tulare County a few years back. Commercial permits for all building projects tripled in value in 2012 compared to the year before with permits valued at $129.7 million in 2012 vs $40.4 million for 2011. The top home builders in the county for 2012 were Lennar with 101 units,Woodside with 71 and local firm Smee Builders with 61 homes.

Bank Merger Would Axe Northside Branch.

Fresno-based Central Valley Community Bank’s application to purchase Visalia Community Bank asks for FDIC permission to eliminate VCB’s current north side location at 2136 N Dinuba Blvd. The federal agency is receiving comment on the plan until March 11. Comments can be sent to FDIC,25 Jessie St at Ecker Square,Suite 2300 San Francisco, Ca 94105.

Thirteen Visalia Schools Go Solar

With a $4 million boost from voters who passed Measure E, Visalia Unified will install solar powered shade structures over walkways and parking lots at 13 local schools this summer. The solar panels will also generate big savings over the next 25 years says Assistant Superintendent Robert Groeber noting the project will be a “win win” for all with a nearly $2 million rebate and long term savings that could reach $22 million. Construction value on the project is $10 million.

COS Plans Summer School

Passage of Prop 30 last November and local cuts have helped College of the Sequoias to plan to restore summer school after a two year lapse says superintendent Stan Carrizosa. Some 50 classes will be offered.

Walmart Hiring 65 For New Market

Walmart is ready to unveil its third store in town, a supermarket built at the corner of Demaree and Houston that will open in mid-March says spokesperson Delia Garcia. Also, the city is near to publishing a final EIR to expand the Noble Ave Walmart to sell groceries after they were challenged over the plan in court.

February 4, 2013
On January 31st,  Fresh and Easy sent an email to the members of our Friends of Fresh & Easy Rewards program updating them on the various news stories circulating about their stores.  The company has announced  a restructuring due to poor financial performance but  there is no news about a sale.  Below is what they sent.
“Dear friend,
Thank you for being a fan of Fresh & Easy. We wanted to reach out to you to address numerous news and online reports about the future of our stores.
Our parent company Tesco is conducting a strategic review of Fresh & Easy – they’re looking at all options to find the best outcome for the neighborhood market that you – and we – have come to love. While we don’t know exactly what that outcome will be, or if Tesco will continue to own the company, we’re confident that Fresh & Easy can continue to be your favorite market.
We want to assure you: we don’t have plans to close stores. We’re still committed to providing delicious, wholesome and affordable food every day. We’re still Fresh & Easy; open for business with everything that you enjoy about our store, with even more exciting things to come. That’s why we’re going to keep on fighting the good food fight.
Now, more than ever, we appreciate your energy in our stores and being able to share a smile with you. We look forward to seeing you soon and thank you for your continued support.
The Fresh & Easy Team”

Forecasters See Little Relief From Dry Weather Pattern
The dry weather pattern has enveloped California in the New Year appears to be continuing well into mid February. California forecasters say a little rain shower and some little snow should falll this week,Thursday and Friday including over Donner Pass and parts of the San Joaquin Valley.
But Accuweather says” it doesn’t appear that the storminess will last all that long this time around with another zone of high pressure expected to build into the West by next weekend.”
SLO forecaster JohnLindsey agreEs offerinG this scenario to his readers today.
“An area of low pressure will drop out of the Gulf of Alaska and  move toward the Central Coast on Thursday night. Rain showers will cross San Luis Obispo County on Friday. The primary uncertainty with the forecast is the amount of moisture associated with the system, which will dictate how much precipitation is produced.
At this time, rainfall amounts will be light with only about a tenth of an inch expected. Snow levels will fall rapidly down to near 2,500 feet as this system moves through. However, only a few inches of snow will fall.”

Dry conditions will return Saturday and will persist through the entire following week as high pressure dominates our weather.

But The NWS Hanford  suggests some uncertainty over the punch of the storm but that rain is likely with very cold temps and thunderstorms that could hit the area Friday.

Abundant rainfall earlier this winter across the state helped drive rain totals through the New Year to well above average( 200% in December) in northern California and the San Joaquin Valley. Today the DWR says the Northern California rain index sits at 128% of average precip with nearly 35 inches in in the bucket.We would be “average” if we got 50 in by the end of this water year. There has been virtually no precipitation in this New Year. This map tells the story of this water year-wet in the north and dry in the middle and south.

The Climate Prediction Center  that rain likelihood from Feb 11-17 shows well below average chance in North and Central California (see map).

Gas Price Spike Temporary?

Gas prices in California have spiked up 30 cents in the past month.Avenal and Lompoc in the S2S region have some of the state’s lowest priced stations at $3.35. This week the state average gas price is nearing $4. AAA reported that wholesale prices spiked 50 cents last week.

But fear not says Visalia oil company exec Walt Dwelle who sees the price jump as “an aberration. It’s temporary and it won’t be long before they head back down.” Dwelle says refinery issues are to blame for the latest run up but that “demand continues to be soft.”

Several observers including OPIS’s Tom Kloza have predicted gas prices will fall in 2013. “They will wobble higher the first of the year.”  But Kloza says the there will be lots of crude coming to market in 2013.

The average price of a gallon of gasoline in 2013 will fall 5 percent to $3.44, according to the Energy Department.

EIA expects that falling crude prices will help national average regular gasoline retail prices fall from an average $3.63 per gallon in 2012 to annual averages of $3.44 per gallon and $3.34 per gallon in 2013 and 2014, respectively.

California Vehicle Sales Climbed 25% In 2012

The new vehicle market in California continued its winning streak
at the end of 2012, with new registrations increasing 22 percent in
the Fourth Quarter versus a year earlier. It was the 15th consecutive
year-over-year quarterly increase. Last year’s annual total exceeded
1.6 million units, a 25.3 percent increase from 2011.

“The release of pent up demand, easing credit conditions, and strong
trade in values helped the market last year and should continue to
support sales in 2013” says the California New Car Dealer Assn newsletter. “ Auto Outlook is predicting a smaller 8.2
percent improvement this year, but registrations are expected to
reach approximately 1.75 million units.”

Other key trends in the state market:
• Among the top 15 selling brands in the state, Kia had the largest
percentage increase last year, up 53.3 percent.
• Korean, Japanese, European, and Detroit Three brand registrations
each increased by more than 17 percent last year.
• Passenger car share increased 2.4 share points. SUVs were
down two points.
• The state market was up 25.3 percent last year, well above the
national 13.4 percent increase.
• Hybrid vehicle market share increased by two market share
points last year. Electric vehicle share fell to just 0.2 percent.

Prius was the top selling car in2012 ,edging out Honda Civic.For F Series held a 34% market share in full size trucks, ahead of Chevy.

Western US Home Sales Up
The National Association of Realtors reports today that existing-home sales in the West rose 5.1 percent to a pace of 1.23 million in December and are 8.8 percent higher than a year ago. The median price in the West was $239,900, which is 17.3 percent above December 2011.

Kern County Biz News

Kern County helped dedicate the new $50 million, 46 acre Caterpillar parts distribution facility at the foot of the Grapevine this month. The 400,000 sf facility employs 150.

Also in recent months Paramount Agricultural Company,owned by Stewart Resnick  expanded Shafter’s International Trade and Transportation Center by 362 acres taking over ownership and marketing of the industrial park from the Allen Group. The sprawling complex is already home to Target distribution center.The move puts Mr Resnick as a major player not only in ag industries but now in industrial real estate.


Iberdrola – the second largest operator in the US renewables sector  has dedicated the the Manzana wind power complex  – one of the company’s largest wind farm facilities in the world, with an installed capacity of 189MW. It is located in Kern County, close to the towns of Rosamond and Tehachapi and comprises 126 GE 1.5MW turbines.

Earlier this month  two Californian wind energy projects have reached completion, bringing 300MW of new capacity onto the state’s grid, developer MidAmerican wind said.
The 168MW Pinyon Pines Wind I and 132 MW Pinyon Pines II projects, located near Tehachapi, interconnected to Southern California Edison’s Tehachapi Renewable Transmission Project, which connects wind capacity in the Tehachapi area to the wider transmission system.
Southern California Edison will purchase electricity from each of the projects under long-term power purchase agreements (PPAs).

Also in January MidAmerican Solar announced the acquisition from SunPower of the 579-megawatt Antelope Valley Solar Projects (AVSP), two co-located projects in Kern and Los Angeles Counties in Calif. Together, the two combined projects will form the largest permitted solar photovoltaic power development in the world and will create an estimated 650 jobs during construction.

A start-up pomegranate processing facility in Tulare County is under construction and expected to open by the end of February at 220 South Main Street in Pixley. M&A Foods based in Mountain View Ca, will employ around 20 to start says founder Dr. Aamir A. Farooqui.

The new company will pack high quality pomegranates for the fresh market, ready-to-eat naturally fresh arils – the pulp, make pomegranate gourmet jam, jelly, syrup, and preserves and produce fresh salad pack for fresh market. The jams and jellys are expected to provide” 35-40% revenue of M&A Foods.”

Dr Farooqui says “marketing of pomegranate arils in a way that makes them easy to eat is a way to promote consumption of the fruit. Currently, there are only two competitors – POM Wonderful and Young’s Town, both, unable to meet the market demands,” he believes.

M&A Foods plans to first extract the Arils by hand and once they have enough orders, plan to purchase automatic deseeding plant from Israel. Farooqui, a UC Davis computer scientist and inventor by training – plans a 100,000 sf facility eventually. He has pomegranate trees in the Alpaugh area.

There are about 4500 acres of pomegranates in Tulare County and some 30,000 acres Valleywide.In 1980 there were only 2500 acres before the health benefits of  the ancient fruit were widely known.

As an aside, a battle has been joined in the past year between industry leader Pom Wonderful, owned by Stewart Resnick,and the US government over health claims. A few days ago the  Federal Trade Commission upheld a judge’s finding that the owners of POM Wonderful pomegranate juice made false claims about the health benefits of their products  – an assertion that Pom Wonderful rejected.

The M&A company’s website explains both the draw and obstacles involved with consuming pomegranates.

“Pomegranate is a natural bounty fruit. Many studies have demonstrated the nutritional and medicinal properties of this fruit. However, it is difficult to peel and extract the edible parts (called Arils) and this reduces its acceptance by the consumer in favor of other fruits that are easier to prepare. Marketing of pomegranate arils in a way that makes them easy to eat is a way to promote consumption of the fruit.
In order to solve this problem M&A Foods plans to produce ready-to-eat naturally fresh arils, free of internal membranes or skin and other unwanted material hygienically packed. The market developed by POM Wonderful is mature enough to accept this product. The aril removal on commercial scale is a very sophisticated process and requires extra care in the de-seeding and packaging steps. Currently, there are only two competitors namely POM Wonderful and Young’s Town, both, are unable to meet the market demands.
During the off-season when no Pomegranate is available, M&A Foods plan to produce fresh cut fruit salad. The market demand and the availability of the fruits will decide this segment.”
Resumes Of Key Players:
Dr. Aamir A. Farooqui, has a successful carrier of building Hi-Tech companies from ground-zero. He is a technical leader and entrepreneur who can turn around technology into business. He completed his Ph.D in Computer and Electrical Engineering in a record period of two years from the University of California, Davis. He worked at multi-national companies and owns several key patents in the field of Computer architecture and Video processing. One of his key ventures is Bluesteel networks, which was sold to Broadcom in 1999. For the past few years he is focusing his efforts on the sustainable farming practices and developing business around farm produce. In this respect he also launched an ecommerce marketplace www.myhomeproduce.com that enables farmers and small cottage food industries to sell their products to millions of consumers throughout US.
Marka Nakata – CEO: Expert in Sales and Marketing and Farm advisor. Accomplished and agile Market Strategy Executive with proven experience in identifying, analyzing and exploiting market  opportunities. Creative and multi-disciplinary executive with conservative approach. Strong supporter of Natural and Healthy Foods. Proven leader with outstanding relationship building skills, strong communication abilities and exceptional emotional intelligence that excels in matrix and hierarchical structures.

Dr Farooqui says Tulare County has been very supportive of the project – BEST County to do Business – and notes their facility is in the Economic Development Zone, which will reduce taxes. The location is in close proximity to pomegranate farms but just three hours drive to Northern or Southern CA markets.

For the county’s new economic development office – led by Mike Washam – the news is especially sweet – considering the firm discovered Tulare County through the county’s new economic  development website and was guided through all the approvals by the county office.

Long awaited 19th Ave interchange over Hwy 198 will break ground in coming weeks  in Lemoore.The $21 million half clover-leaf  project will require 2 years to build with a contract awarded to Granite Construction. The interchange  will be the only one on Hwy 198 and tie the rest of the city to its industrial area. The project has been in the planning stages since 1958, about when the navy bases was being built. The  surrounding land on the south side is considered  prime for freeway commercial.

Tulare: Vita-Pakt Citrus Products Co.’s, Chairman and CEO, Jim Boyles, announced the commissioning of its new citrus juice processing facility in Tulare last month. Source says the plant is being expanded and under construction now.

“This new plant utilizes the latest juice processing technologies offered worldwide. Our state of the art equipment is designed to provide the best quality NFC and concentrated citrus juice for our expanding industrial customer base.” – Jim Boyles, Chairman and CEO.
This plant will begin processing the majority of Vita-Pakt’s juice and debittering navel juice beginning in December. All products are offered in bulk tankers, drums and pails says the company.
Vita Pak recently purchased the CCPI juice plant in Lindsay and has two facilities there and now one in Tulare.

Terra Bella: Growers Citrus Packing is adding a 41,350 SFT cold storage facility at its Ave 95 plant site.The independent packing facility is owned by David Evans. The nearly $1 million cold storage building  will mean about 6 new jobs with cold storage room for 50,000 boxes of citrus.

Kingsburg: Sierra Packing Solutions will build a 37,500sf office and storage facility at 2491 Ave 400 near Kingsburg. The $800,000 building will  allow owner Clyde Ulrich to relocate from  a smaller rented facility in Kingsburg.

Lemoore: Wine Tasting Room planned.  George Meyer of Farmers Fury Winery is seeking a conditional use permit to open a wine tasting room at at 358 West “D” Street. Other merchandise sold will be shirts, hats, wine racks, wine bottle holders, and other items along with cheeses and olive oil and small appetizer type food. Lemoore city planning commission will hear the plan January 14.

With a name like Sprouts, it is not surprising this natural foods supermarket chain is on the grow. Arizona-based Sprouts Farmers Market – an organic and natural foods supermarket who competes with Whole Foods – will open a new 35,000 sf store in North Fresno by May.

Sprouts has nearly 150 locations and 11,000 employees in the West and earlier this year acquired the 36-store Sunflower Farmers Market chain.
Interviewed this week company CEO Doug Sanders says the currently vacant Fresno property at 7477 N Blackstone will be leased.The new store will employ around 85. An employment fair will be announced. All their stores are non-union.

More To Come?

“We will see how it goes but I would not be surprised if we added another store in this marketplace” down the line.
Besides Fresno, Sanders confirms there is interest in locating a store in Visalia as well. ”We’ve looked in Visalia.” About half the chain’s stores are located in California with most in southern California.The company distribution center is in Riverside.

Sprouts was founded by the Henry Boney Family who also launched Henry’s Markets in LA – now part of Sprouts. Sunflower, acquired in March, had a similar marketing approach that emphasizes fresh produce says Sanders.
“Unlike most grocery stores our produce section is in the middle of the store. It’s the Farmer’s Market approach” and “it’s what we hang our hat on.”

Asked about Sprout’s comparison to Whole Foods – Sanders says Sprouts aims to compete with traditional grocery stores on produce prices that are typically “20 to 25% less expensive than a “ Vons or Ralphs, he claims.”We are more value added than Whole Foods, says Sanders, “appealing to a broader group.”

On-line some have done an item-by-item shopping comparison for typical products and Sprouts appears to cheaper – on 1/2 gallon of Silk Soy Milk for example, for $3.69 vs $4.29 at an LA Whole Foods location.
Sanders says Whole Foods does more food service items than Sprouts.

Broadening The Market

The company CEO says the organic grocery marketplace has come a long way in the past ten years  – now with “more affordable products along with better quality.” Some former unknown brand names are now household favorites like like Kashi,Organic Farms and Annies. These companies have helped increase the quality of food items as well as providing the scale and competition to lower prices.

The shopper too has changed,he adds, from a small cadre of true believers who demand organic to a wide variety of shoppers who want to have a healthier diet. A large group these days are “trial buyers” who are experimenting, he suggests.

A major stakeholder in the private company is publicly traded Apollo Global Management who also has equity interest in Smart and Final,Ralphs,CKE Restaurants and Claire’s Stores – among others.The Henry Boney Family remains active in the management of Sprouts.

California’s unemployment rate decreased to 9.8 percent in November, and nonfarm payroll jobs decreased by 3,800 during the month for a total gain of 564,100 jobs since the recovery began in February 2010, according to data released today by the California Employment Development Department (EDD) from two separate surveys.

The U.S. unemployment rate decreased in November to 7.7 percent.

In October, the state’s unemployment rate was 10.1 percent, and in November 2011, the unemployment rate was 11.3 percent. The unemployment rate is derived from a federal survey of 5,500 California households.

Nonfarm jobs in California totaled 14,406,400 in November, a decrease of 3,800 jobs over the month, according to a survey of businesses that is larger and less variable statistically. The survey of 42,000 California businesses measures jobs in the economy. The year-over-year change (November 2011 to November 2012) shows an increase of 268,600 jobs (up 1.9 percent).

EMPLOYMENT AND UNEMPLOYMENT IN CALIFORNIA

The federal survey of households, done with a smaller sample than the survey of employers, shows an increase in the number of employed people. It estimates the number of Californians holding jobs in November was 16,589,000, an increase of 78,000 from October, and up 223,000 from the employment total in November of last

SLO & Valley Counties

The unemployment rate in the San Luis Obispo County was 7.3 percent in November 2012, unchanged from a revised 7.3 percent in October 2012, and below the year-ago estimate of 8.6 percent.

The unemployment rate in the Tulare County was 14.5 percent in November 2012, up from a revised 14.4
percent in October 2012, and below the year-ago estimate of 15.4 percent.

The unemployment rate in the Fresno County was 14.4 percent in November 2012, up from a
revised 13.8 percent in October 2012, and below the year-ago estimate of 15.8 percent. This
compares with an unadjusted unemployment rate of 9.6 percent for California and 7.4 percent
for the nation during the same period.

Between October 2012 and November 2012, total wage and salary employment in Fresno decreased by 5,900 jobs (down 1.8 percent) to total 328,200. Farm employment dropped by 5,700 jobs (down 12.6 percent) and nonfarm employment declined by 200 jobs (down 0.1 percent).
• Farm employment posted the largest month-over decline by a drop of 5,700.