Frozen fruits and vegetables are so common nowadays, that it’s easy to lose sight of the story behind them. They’re just there. You don’t have to worry about the weather, the droughts, the floods or lost crops. Pete and Nick Gengler do.
The Minnesota brothers are carrying on the business their family started more than 100 years ago. Pete and Nick are the fourth generation of Genglers to run Sno Pac Foods, an organic farm and frozen food processing plant in Caledonia, Minn.
Back in the day, their grandfather, Leonard, built a locker plant where residents and local farmers could rent freezer space to store their food. At the same time, Leonard started growing and processing his own organic fruits and vegetables, which he froze and supplied to customers in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa.
Leonard’s son, Ramon Gengler, continued the organic vegetable operation expanding the product line, the market and now Pete and Nick continue that tradition. They raise crops on 3,000 acres in Minnesota.
What they don’t grow themselves they get from other farmers within a 60-mile radius. People still come directly to the Sno Pac plant to pick up their annual supply of vegetables. You don’t have to travel to Caledonia, Minn., to get Sno Pac fruits and vegetables. You’ll find them in the freezer section at your favorite Outpost.