Here’s a quick political quiz for you:
Among the Secretaries of State of each state in the Union since the inception of theUnited States, who ranks first in length of continuous service?

That person would be Frank C. Jordan, Secretary of State of the State ofCalifornia. He served in that capacity from 1911 until he died in office on January 18, 1940, at 79 years of age.

Now what, you may ask, does this have to do with Clover Stornetta? Frank C. Jordan signed the first “Claim To Trade Mark” for Clover Brand Butter on June 23, 1916. Thus began the history of Clover Brand Dairy Products.

The first Clover Brand trade mark certificate issued for Clover Brand Butter only – June 23, 1916.

In the original document the trade mark was granted to the Petaluma Cooperative Creamery and described as: “ ‘Clover Brand Butter’ printed diagonally across a rectangle, with a cluster of clover, consisting of three leaves and three flowers, between the words ‘Clover’ and ‘Butter’ etc.”

Butter was the only product being produced for retail sale by the Creamery at that time. Over the next 14 years many other products were developed and produced bearing the Clover Brand label and it became necessary to apply for a more universal trademark.

The Clover Brand Products trade mark certificate – May 16, 1930

The old sign in the Lakeville office showing the old Clover Brand Products logo as described in the 1930 trade mark claim.

Which brings us back to Frank C. Jordan. Almost 14 years later, on May 16, 1930, Mr. Jordan assigned another “Claim To Trade Mark” for Clover Brand Products. Over the years the Clover brand evolved and changed until 1977 when Clover Stornetta was born. It actually took a year or two after the company started before the Clover Stornetta Farms brand was produced. We have had two or three redesigns since the original, but the basic logo has remained the same. We added the Clover Organic mark in 2005.

We also had some marks that were not as steadfast and long-lasting, such as the La Pureza brand in the 90’s and the Clover Farmstead mark that was introduced in 2007.

While the Clover brand has endured the test of time, I don’t think anyone could have foreseen the strength and the reach of the brand that Frank C. Jordan certified 96 years ago.

What changes will be made to our existing logos, or what new enduring marks might be added in the future and what impact they might have will be fun to see. We’ll keep you posted.

The Winter Fancy Food Show is the largest specialty food event on the West Coast and 2012 marks its 37^th year.  Over 1,200 specialty food companies from all over the world gather for sampling, networking, and enjoying the unique culture of the food industry.

I often reflect on how fortunate I feel to work in an industry that revolves around one of my favorite past times: eating.  Breakfast, lunch, dinner, tapas, appetizers, cheese courses and desserts; Italian, American, Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Indian and everything in between.  I love it all and feel very blessed this is the business I get to participate in each day.  It’s not only the eating aspect of food that I love, but the way it functions to bring families and communities together.

Those who work within the food industry understand what a special place it is.  We are creating, distributing and ultimately feeding and nurturing the people of our communities, our families and our world.  That being said, it can be a tough gig day in and day out so an event like the Winter Fancy Food Show allows us some time to enjoy the fruits of our labor.

Besides the fun of meeting others in the industry, including food celebrities like Ina Garten of Barefoot Contessa and Duff Goldman of Ace of Cakes, we are invited to sample thousands of innovative, delicious new treats (myself and the Clover team often joke that we leave the show a few pounds heavier than when we entered it!).

The Winter Fancy Food Show also serves to remind us of why we joined this business in the first place.  This is an industry that promotes creativity, sound values, teamwork and environmental stewardship.      From the international pavilion to the local California area, we have the good fortune of trying some of the best food around.  This year we will be showcasing our new Clover Organic Strawberry Kefir.  Wish us (and our waistlines) luck!

Clover Stornetta Farms, one of the leading dairy brands in California, is proud to announce the addition of Organic Summer Strawberry to their popular Kefir line.

Petaluma, CA  January 9th, 2012

Clover Stornetta Farms announces its release of a new product, Organic Summer Strawberry Kefir.  Clover will present the product at the NASFT Winter Fancy Food Show January 15-17, 2012 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, CA.  The product can be purchased throughout California and in select Nevada and Arizona locations starting March 1, 2012.

With origins dating back centuries, kefir is a cultured milk product which contains probiotics to help promote healthy digestion and strengthen the immune system.  As a good source of protein and high in calcium, Clover Organic Summer Strawberry Kefir starts with milk from a select group of family farms in Sonoma and Marin Counties of California.  The milk is cultured and combined with ten traditional live and active cultures which provide beneficial probiotics.  The addition of strawberries, an excellent source of antioxidants and Vitamin C, make this a tasty, “healthy-for-your-body” beverage.

“We get a lot of positive feedback from consumers about our kefir,” said Marcus Benedetti, President and CEO of Clover Stornetta Farms. “Kefir is an extremely healthy drink that has been around for centuries.  As a leading California dairy brand, we are proud to make it available to consumers today.”

The Winter Fancy Food Show is the largest specialty food event on the West Coast and 2012 marks its 37^th year.  Over 1,200 specialty food companies from all over the world gather for sampling, networking, and enjoying the unique culture of the food industry.  Clover Stornetta Farms will be exhibiting in the North Hall at booth number 1484.

Clover Stornetta Farms is a three-generation family-owned and operated dairy located in Petaluma, California.  Clover was the first dairy in the nation to be certified by the American Humane Association for its humane treatment of animals and was the first dairy West of the Mississippi to offer milk free of the growth hormone rBST.  Clover focuses strongly on sustainability and the humane treatment of animals so you can enjoy Clover dairy products in good conscience and good health.

You can find this press release at the following media outlets:

San Francisco Chronicle/SF Gate

San Jose Mercury News

San Diego Union Tribune

Whenever the holidays roll around and we begin to bottle Clover Eggnog at our plant in Petaluma, CA, I’m reminded of a story that has become the stuff of legend among the Clover family.  This year it occurred to me that through this blog I am able to share this story with all of you.  I hope you enjoy!

Since the 1930’s, long before Clover Stornetta Farms emerged as a company, the Clover brand was produced at the Petaluma Co-Op, eventually under the supervision of my grandfather, Gene Benedetti.  In 1975 the Co-Op burned down and a group of partners, including a man named Al Stornetta of Stornetta Dairy, came together to create what is now Clover Stornetta Farms.

During the old days at Stornetta Dairy, Al Stornetta had a tradition every holiday season to mix up one 500 gallon batch of eggnog with a little something special added in – 30 gallons of whiskey from Vallergas Market in Napa.  This “Brandied Eggnog” was packaged in special cartons and given as gifts to customers, distribution managers and chefs.  This was a special tradition that was looked forward to by all.  When Clover brand became Clover Stornetta Farms in 1977 we decided to take the beloved Stornetta holiday tradition along with us into the new company.

For four years Clover Stornetta Farms carried out the Brandied Eggnog tradition smoothly; our customers loved the little treat we provided and it felt great to keep the custom going in our new company.  On the fifth year, 1981, we were confident we could discretely distribute our spiked eggnog gifts as we had in the years before.  And we thought we did.

Eggnog season is always a shockingly busy time for us.  This favorite holiday treat flies off the shelves at mind-warping speeds leaving many stores out of stock.  Such was the case at Vallergas Market #4 on Imola Ave. in Napa, CA.  Consumers scooped up the last of the Clover Eggnog.  In the back cooler was an unassuming case of Clover Eggnog quarts; the labels were a little different, but to the clerk who was working in the dairy case that day they looked like the perfect solution to the eggnog shortage.

In the meantime an emergency order for eggnog had been called into Clover and arrived at Vallergas #4.  When our Clover driver brought in the delivery he was shocked to see Brandied Eggnog on the shelf and quickly made the switch.  “Phew, that was a close one!” He thought to himself.

A couple of weeks later an elderly woman came into Vallergas #4 complaining about the Clover Eggnog she had purchased the day before.  She said it was not up to par, the Clover Eggnog she had purchased two weeks before in the slightly different package had been MUCH better.  She would like some more of that eggnog.

Well, we all like to look back on this story and smile.  Luckily the Brandied Eggnog only made it into the hands of one customer that year and she seemed to enjoy it.   Needless to say this was a little too close of a call for us and we decided 1981 would be the last year of our “special” batch of Clover Eggnog.  We now leave it up to you to add, or not add, whatever you like to this holiday treat.

Thanks for reading.  Happy holidays to you and your families!

Instructions:

Follow the instructions on the yellow cake package, but substitute Clover Eggnog for the other ingredients called for in the recipe.  Add a tablespoon of rum for flavor (optional).  Bake in a bundt pan.  Sprinkle cooled cake with powdered sugar and drizzle Eggnog over the top of the cake (don’t drink it all while the cake is cooking!).

Midge puts a candle in the middle of the bundt cake with a sprig of holly for decoration and gives these cakes as gifts.

Midge's Holiday Eggnog Cake

To say my grandfather, Gene Benedetti (Pops to me), led an interesting life would be an understatement.  After playing football and earning his BA at the University of San Francisco he enlisted in the army, stormed the beaches at Normandy in World War II and returned home to tell the tale, then went on to get his teaching credential at Stanford.  After completing his higher education, Pops headed back to Clover Country and began coaching football for Santa Rosa Junior College.  He loved working with the players, teaching rules and strategies about the game, as well as some rules and strategies about life along the way.  When it came time for my dad, Dante Benedetti, to attend SRJC, Pops was proud that his son decided to join the football team.  SRJC Football and Clover go back generations and we are so happy to continue the relationship today.

When my father took the reins at Clover he held on to the same ideals of supporting communities and charities that he learned from his father.  About 10 years ago a thought occurred to him: SRJC has a special opportunity to teach the members of their football team about what giving back is all about.  The way he saw it SRJC has a player for a couple of years, after that the player may go on to the upper echelons of athletics, or may never set foot on the field again.  Wouldn’t it be great to give them the opportunity to learn about the importance of giving back to local charities?  This could be an experience they could carry with them for the rest of their lives, perhaps even pass on to their own children.  He gave SRJC a call and Clo’s Classic was born.

Clo’s Classic is a special game held each year at Santa Rosa Junior College, sponsored by Clover.  Clover asks the football players to vote for a charity they would like to play for and all proceeds of the game benefit the charity.  This year Clo’s Classic will benefit Social Advocates for Youth (SAY).  SAY was founded in Sonoma County in 1971 and provides crisis intervention, counseling, community programs, hope and opportunity to at-risk children, youth and families.  SAY is an excellent organization and we are so happy to have the opportunity to support them through Clo’s Classic this year.  To learn more about SAY please visit: http://www.saysc.org/

So, if you are free Saturday Oct. 22 please come down to SRJC and enjoy a great football game while supporting a great cause.  We hope to see you there!

In those days at our school, as was the case in many schools at that time, we brought our lunches to school with us either in a brown bag or a lunch box. Some kids had a thermos with juice or milk or some other beverage in it. But if anyone wanted fresh milk from the milkman we had to make sure that we had a nickel with us or that our parents had prepaid for our lunch milk.

Clover has always been a big part of school lunches in the Redwood Empire (North of San Francisco). We now have over 300 school accounts stretching from Sausalito to Fort Bragg and from Point Arena to Lower Lake. We are also serving some schools in the Bay Area including the Santa Clara Unified School District in the south bay as well as the Santa Cruz City School District.

Over the course of the 2010-11 school year we sold over 8.43 million half pints of milk to our local schools. The breakdown of chocolate to white milk was 3.845 million chocolate half pints to 4.585 million white half pints. This equates to a total of over 526,000 gallons of milk.

The fact that our kids are being offered milk at lunch should be a comfort to us all. Milk supplies good calories in a healthy drink that delivers calcium for building strong bones and healthy teeth, and protein for developing strong muscles.

As important as it is for our children, the school milk business is also very important to Clover Stornetta. Important not only for the volume of milk that it pushes through our plant, but also for the exposure of the Clover Stornetta brand to our young students on a daily basis. If they have good memories and good experiences with our products now, it is much more likely that they will stay with us as adults and avoid reaching for brand X.

Recently in the school lunch program there has been much scrutiny given nationwide to the fat and calories of the higher fat milks as well as the added sugars in the chocolate milk. Most of the attention is being driven by the new Federal nutritional requirements that school lunches must meet in 2012. Even though Clover Stornetta was already offering 1% low fat milk to our schools and we had previously reduced the amount of added sugar and calories in our chocolate milk, in anticipation of the new Federal ruling we are developing a new fat free chocolate for the schools. When asked about the new product Marcia McGlochlin, Clover’s Director of Food Safety and Regulatory Affairs, said, “We carefully evaluated different flavor profiles and chose a formula that would be nutritionally sound and still be pleasing to the students.” New cartons are being made and the new product should be ready to launch before the end of the year.

As with any new product launch, we will be checking sales figures. But what’s even more important, with this product launch we will be watching and listening carefully to comments and reactions from the students. After all, we want our kids to still look forward to seeing the milkman make his deliveries. In that respect we hope nothing changes.

-Herm

(Herm Benedetti is the VP of Research and Development for Clover)

It wasn’t Ricardo Ramos Rico’s idea to come to America.