Boundary Bend, the largest Australian olive oil company and producer of the award-winning Cobram Estate brand, is setting up a production facility and U.S. headquarters in the California town of Woodland, about 12 miles from Sacramento, the state’s Capital.
Overseeing the California operations is Adam Englehardt, the former vice president of orchard operations for California Olive Ranch. Englehardt now holds the role of CEO of Boundary Bend’s U.S. operations.
The company bought a 10-acre site of a former tractor dealership, according to the Sacramento Business Journal, where it plans to process up to 50 tons of olives per hour, as well as house a bottling operation and offices.
Boundary Bend’s new site in Woodland, CA.
Englehardt said the company is looking at orchards to acquire and contracting with regional farmers to provide fruit.
The company’s flagship, Cobram Estate, is the winningest brand at the 2014 New York International Olive Oil Competition (NYIOOC) and is increasingly found on the shelves of American supermarkets.
Boundary Bend currently makes more olive oil than all American producers combined, the company said. And while more than 95 percent of the olive oil Americans consume is imported, Australian producers led by Boundary Bend have managed to capture almost one third of the domestic market there.
Boundary Bend’s executive chairman Rob McGavin said in a note to shareholders last year, “We believe we can replicate, in the U.S., the success of our Australian integrated business.” Wealthy Australian businessman Chris Corrigan is backing the U.S. expansion.
McGavin will be a speaker at the NYIOOC conference in April.
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