Moooving into the future

Family-run Clover Stornetta is now in third generation of leadership, determined to stay 'Clo'-ser to its customers than ever before

May 10, 2006

By DANE GOLDEN
ARGUS-COURIER STAFF

Looking for a story about brash young corporate leaders who have recently taken the helm of an established company, ready to shake it up and make radical changes? Want to read about executives full of braggadocio who want to talk only about their own ideas and plans?

Sorry, that ain't happening at Clover Stornetta Farms.

On the cusp of its fourth decade in business, the family-run Petaluma-based dairy processor has recently installed its third generation of leadership, president Marcus Benedetti, 30, and CEO Kevin Imm, 40.

But don't expect a radical change of direction for the company. After all, how much more radical could it be?

This is, after all, the company that in the mid-90s stood up to agricultural/biotech company Monsanto to become the first dairy producer to say no to growth hormones, and, more recently, invested heavily in converting their processing plant into the only one nationwide that runs both conventional and organic milk every day.

And it has a couple of new leaders who'd rather talk about the company and its accomplishments than themselves. Benedetti and Imm, who took over for their fathers Dan Benedetti and Gary Imm, respectively, in the last 18 months, now helm a ship that is already going in the right direction.

These two men share co-leadership responsibilities, running the company in an unusual corporate structure that was created by founder and Petaluma icon Gene Benedetti in the mid-1980s. Marcus Benedetti manages the sales and marketing, while Kevin Imm is in charge of operations.

But that's not where the story's at, Imm and Benedetti will tell you. Instead, they want to talk about the other fantastic people involved with Clover Stornetta. They'll tell you about the value and experience of everyone from the board of executives and their fathers, to the legacy of founder Gene Benedetti, to the truck drivers and those who work at each level of the company, as well as the family-run dairy ranches.

And then, of course, they'll tell you about how important the individual customer is to their business. Clover Stornetta prides itself on knowing their customers better than any other dairy processor. So when in the mid-1990s Monsanto came out with the synthetically engineered growth hormone rBST (Recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone), which dairy ranchers could inject into cows to artificially increase production dramatically, Clover knew their customers wouldn't go for that.

"We knew that we were selling milk to the most educated and affluent, sophisticated group of consumers anywhere in the country and that they were not going to want an artificial hormone placed in their milk and not even know about it," said Benedetti.

So the company took a stand against rBST. Clover had to pay their producers more for their lower production compared to cows using the hormones, but it paid off, creating a niche market for customers who will pay a little more for a milk that didn't use rBST in production. Soon, other independent processors had to follow suit and stopped using rBST.

But Clover Stornetta had secured a competitive marketing edge, and continued to build on it. They created what they called their North Coast Excellence program, where their milk was independently certified to come from cows not treated with rBST and were treated humanely, while being farmed on land using sustainable farming practices.

They also invested heavily into organic milk production and processing.

So, in a milk market that has flat lined, Clover Stornetta has found a way to expand its conventional distribution, and is growing its organic milk business by 20 percent annually.

And the organic production is expected to continue to grow. The company has converted its plant from running organic milk just a couple of days a week into everyday production.

"We had the vision that organic was going to be a growing sector for us," said Imm. "So we said, 'We've got to change our processing, and our whole thought process, so we can get the milk from the farm and run it immediately, and provide the freshest, cleanest milk out to the market.' Because we knew organics was going to grow."

"We carved out a niche market in the upscale arena, the Whole Foods, and the local independent grocer tends to be much more in tune with what the buyer is looking for and the better product line," said Imm.

In addition, the Clover Stornetta business model has helped dairy ranchers remain viable in an extremely competitive market.

"We put incentive back into dairy farming," said Benedetti.

Clover Stornetta, of course, recently suffered the loss of its founder and chairman emeritus, Gene Benedetti. Marcus Benedetti said that the passing of his grandfather has left a big void.

"It was tough, because he was the heart and soul of Clover. He founded it, and his ideals were community first and people first," said Marcus Benedetti.

"But that philosophy didn't die when my dad took over as president, and my challenge is to hopefully continue to allow that model to happen with community and giving and being a part, truly, of where you're doing business. (Gene Benedetti's) philosophy was always to make everyone around you prosperous, and you in turn can't help but to prosper. It's a very simple model, really, that he held so near and dear to him."

(Contact Dane Golden at dgolden@arguscourier.com)

CLOVER STORNETTA FARMS

President: Marcus Benedetti

CEO: Kevin Imm

Board members: Dan Benedetti, Gary Imm, Marcus Benedetti, Kevin Imm, Herm Benedetti, Mike Keefer, "M" Britt, John Marcuson.

Founded: 1977

Privately held

Employees: 200

Yearly revenue: $100 million

www.cloverstorenetta.com

PETALUMABUSINESSPERSONPROFILE: MARCUSBENEDETTI

Clover Stornetta Farms president Marcus Benedetti was born and raised in Petaluma, and lives here with his wife Mary Beth and their two boys. He graduated from the University of Alaska Fairbanks in business administration. When he has time, his hobbies include fly-fishing, skiing, hunting and diving. He's been helping out at the company since his first job, sweeping up, at age 12. During summers in high school he worked in the machine shop, and during college summers he would demo products in stores. When he got out of college in 200, he joined the union and worked in the chilled warehouse, then got his Class B license and had a milk route. He was a sales rep for four years, and became president in January.

PETALUMABUSINESSPERSONPROFILE: KEVINIMM

Clover Stornetta Farms CEO Kevin Imm was born and raised in Petaluma and lives in Santa Rosa with his wife Mary and two boys. He graduated in business administration from Sacramento State, and loves coaching his kids' Little League, basketball and soccer teams. He started helping out at the company at age 10, scooping ice cream at the fairs. During summers while he was in school he loaded ice cream trucks and milk trailers, and after college ran a milk route for a year. Then he was a sales rep, distribution manager, vice president of distribution, operations manager, vice president of operations and chief operating officer, becoming chief executive officer in January of last year.