Our Story

Transcending the Traditional

By taking advantage of technology, innovative marketing, and strong partnerships, Mellano & Co. is proving to be a cut above many of its competitors.

Now a leading cut flower grower in California, Mellano & Co. had humble beginnings. It was originally established in Los Angeles as a wholesale distributor in 1925. The company’s founder, immigrant Giovanni Mellano, expanded his business by purchasing approximately six acres in the Los Angeles area and began growing his own flowers. Mellano & Co. has been moving forward in floriculture ever since.

The company is still headquartered at its Los Angeles Flower Market location, but under the direction of Giovanni’s sons and son in law, Johnny & H. Michael Mellano and Battista Castellano, the growing operation was relocated to the San Luis Rey Valley in San Diego County.

Now in its third-generation, Mellano & Co. has indeed expanded to include not only its wholesale division in the Los Angeles Flower Market, but also locations in Carlsbad, CA, and Las Vegas, NV. Today Mellano & Co. farms approximately 400 acres in San Luis Rey and Carlsbad, and even though the current climate of the cut flower industry is difficult, Mellano & Co. continues to thrive.

“One reason for our success is that we are well diversified,” Bob Mellano says. His brothers Michael Anthony and Jim Mellano agree. “We strive to stay technologically advanced, vertically integrated, and not afraid to make crop mix changes — all of this adds to our success,” Jim says.

From production to wholesale to mass marketing — Mellano & Co. does it all, using the most advanced scientific and environmentally responsible conditions. With one masters-level and two Ph.D. horticulturists, Mellano & Co. can strive toward standards and quality that are difficult to match.

Innovation: Past & Present

Mellano & Co. is a company of firsts. It was one of the first operations to implement integrated pest management and scouting. It was one of the first to utilize irrigation systems to minimize runoff and water flow. Mellano & Co. was one of the first to utilize a pre-cooling system — a system that allows flowers to be shipped at their optimal level. And it was one of the first operations in Southern California to recognize and develop the usage of smaller boxes for packaging flowers, allowing for improved quality control and handling.

In the 21st century, Mellano & Co. continues to successfully incorporate new technology into its business by integrating new goals and progressive systems. Recently, the company installed an electronic labor tracking system. The modern system uses a time card button for each employee by which time is tracked for each task and downloaded at the end of each day. The system easily calculates productivity and allocation of labor in specific areas.

“This system has been very important to us in developing our crops and improving profitability. It has allowed us to keep labor costs under control in the face of skyrocketing expenses,” Michael M. Mellano Jr says. His brother-in-law, Phil Kenney, adds, “In a multi-location company like Mellano & Co., communication and access to information is essential.”

In addition, the company has just installed a state-of-the-art computer system that allows all locations access to each other’s data. It has also built a comprehensive Web site that not only provides significant information to future customers, but also acts as an aid to current customers. Video clips of the farming operation gives customers a better grasp of what is taking place at the production level, and the site even features a live “web cam,” which sends a live picture of the boxing and shipping area to the visitor’s computer. “Information is the key,” Kenney says. “The more information our customers have, the more likely they are to value us as a resource.”

Marketing To The Masses

Mellano & Co. has been in business for 75 years and in that time, it has weathered a lot of changes. To meet the needs of today’s customers, the company’s wholesale division strives to be a convenient, one-stop shop for its customers. In addition to Mellanogrown flowers and foliage, Mellano & Co. also distributes a wide variety of products produced by other domestic and offshore growers.

“We want our customers to look at us as their main source for their products,” Bob says. This is a difficult balance, but it doesn’t stop the company from continuously looking for new ways to expand its business.

A new mass-market division was recently created at Mellano & Co.’s Los Angeles location to focus on this aspect of the industry. “Mass markets are the fastest growing segment in the industry,” Bob adds. “The lion’s share in the cut flower market is moving through the supermarket arena, and Mellano & Co. is right there with it.”

Strength In Numbers

An important industry partnership for Mellano & Co. is its in-depth involvement in industry groups such as the California Cut Flower Commission (CCFC) and the Society of American Florists. “You get out of the industry what you put into it,” Bob says. “The stronger we can make the California industry, the stronger our chances are of our company being prosperous.”

In addition to relying on its own experience to expand the business, Mellano & Co. works very closely with the University of California and other universities around the United States in a multitude of projects. “Sometimes we bring a project idea to the table but often, researchers need a cooperator to help them put the pieces of a puzzle together, and we are glad to help,” Michael Anthony says. “We learn, they learn, and the whole industry benefits.”

One of the most important projects Mellano & Co. is currently working on is finding an alternative for the impending loss of methyl bromide. As chairman of the CCFC’s Research Committee, Michael Anthony works together with many other growers and researchers not only evaluating a variety of alternatives, but also looking at new cropping schemes to help minimize the impact of the loss.

Working together is nothing new to Mellano & Co. Truly a family business, Mellano & Co. currently has six third generation family members responsible for the day-to-day operations. Working at a family business with so many relatives can be both challenging and rewarding. “Whatever struggles our business faces,” Bob says, “we always end up working our way through it and move forward as a family.”

Partnering With Paul Ecke Ranch

One significant partnership Mellano & Co. has cultivated in the industry is with the Ecke family, managing the ranunculus grown at The Flower Fields operation in Carlsbad. According to Michael Anthony Mellano, the partnership began when the Frazee family, who had produced the flowers there for many years, decided to retire.

In all those years that they had been growing the giant ranunculus, the fields had become an icon for the city of Carlsbad. It just so happened that the Frazees were farming on ground the Eckes owned. Once the city found out about the Frazees’ plan to retire, they approached Paul Ecke Jr. and asked if he could find a way to keep the fields a viable part of the Carlsbad community.

Ecke ultimately came to the Mellanos and asked if they would be interested in taking over the responsibility of production — a proposal that they readily accepted. Both the Mellanos and the Eckes soon began to realize that there was an opportunity to help support the operation by opening it as a tourist venue.

“The first year, we threw a fence around it and my aunt manned the gate,” Michael Anthony says. “People just walked through and around fields, and they sold a bunch of flowers to them as they were walking out. We saw that there was a ton of potential there and put an active plan together that the Eckes developed. The Eckes now manage the tourism and the retail aspects, and we have the responsibility of managing all the growing and production aspects of the operation.”

And has this partnership been a success? Well, The Flower Fields now draws about 150,000 tourists per year. You be the judge.

About the author: Laura Elia is a freelance writer in Buffalo, NY.