Petaluma, California. The name rolls almost musically off the tongue—and fittingly so. Situated in the heart of Sonoma wine country, just west of Napa, the community of Petaluma and its environs sing with its well-deserved reputation for epicurean delights: a wide swath of award-winning restaurants, winemaking operations, breweries, olive oil presses and cheese-making artisans.
Among them, one of the particularly notable eatables-oriented business operations in Petaluma stands out for its own unique spin on gastronomy: Torn Ranch.
Over several decades since it opened its door's, Torn Ranch has carved out an intriguing niche for itself as a leading specialty food supplier for luxury hotels and resorts, spas, travel outlets and high-end retailers. More than just specialty food supplier, however, the company has distinguished itself by becoming a true innovator of specialty foods—hundreds of items, including chocolates, gourmet nuts, dried fruits, trail mixes, candies, cookies—that are custom-created and packaged to match each of their clients’ brands, thus becoming one-of-a-kind gifts for their customers.
All in the family
Deana Morrow, one of the owners and a chief spokesperson for the Torn Ranch enterprise, says the ranch has been in operation since the early 1990s. When Morrow was 12, her family purchased what then was a much smaller retail operation in the gently rolling hills of San Rafael, California, from Milt Torn, the namesake of the business. Milt had founded it in 1975.“The story behind Torn Ranch really begins with my parents, who first began selling our food-related products to department stores and retail outlets,” she says. “We then started getting approached by hotels and other food service businesses, and we began to recognize a need—a demand for—the quality of items that we were creating and selling.
”Those items include a growing assortment of unique specialty food items created by Torn Ranch culinary artisans. As Morrow notes, “First and foremost, it’s just a really fun business. It’s hard not to love servicing customers with wonderful products like chocolates and cookies and roasted nuts—which always make people happy to see you!”
Exponential growth
Aside from the products’ quality ingredients, however, it was Morrow and her family’s creativity that really propelled the business forward, culminating in last year’s sales being the highest ever for the unique business. “We’ve been very lucky,” she says. “With the exception of the COVID years, we’ve grown every year since we’ve been open.”
That growth has led to a sizeable expansion of the Torn Ranch business and its facilities in Petaluma, where the physical structure has grown to roughly 60,000 square feet and the staff to more than 100 team members. “We’re solely a manufacturing facility—not a retail operation,” Morrow explains. “But we’re set in a beautiful location, where we look at vineyards and the rolling Sonoma County hills. It’s lovely here.”
In addition to their nut-roasting operation and chocolate-making facility, the property includes a bakery where, as Morrow proudly points out, “a lot of artisans and craftspeople are creating beautiful products every day.”
Focus on custom partnering
One of the main keys to Torn Ranch’s success is the emphasis the ranch places on creating long-term, meaningful partnerships with the clients it serves.
“We are, in fact, a B2B company,” Morrow explains. “We work through our ongoing partnerships with retail stores, high-end department stores, wineries, hotels and others, so many of the products these stores and companies offer to their customers and clients will be under the Torn Ranch brand. These long-term relationships are incredibly important to us, because we see our customer relationships not as ‘one-off’ sales transactions, but rather as meaningful partnerships that we develop over years and years.”
At other times, Morrow explains, the Torn Ranch operation will, for example, work with a chef or other professional business owner to create a custom product under that business’s own logo or branding.“We create a custom program, something that really matches up with what this particular client is trying to do—and to deliver that, they work with our in-house creative design department,’ Morrow says.
Connectivity
Apart from her family’s enormously hard work to make Torn Ranch the success it’s become, Morrow says the mentoring relationships she’s had with a number of professionals in a variety of fields have helped her tremendously.
“I’ve been very fortunate through the years to have a number of mentors,” she says. “People who, at different times in my career here, have coached and helped me. In fact, what’s really been important for us is the connectivity we share with many people and groups here in Sonoma County. How we support one another and talk about innovative ideas to help us get even better at what we do.”
Morrow also credits the company’s success to its relationship with California Bank & Trust. “One of the other keys to continuing growth is to be able to lean on others for support—whether it’s a relationship that you’ve nurtured with other industry people to help in your field, or whether you’ve leaned on others to help you with your business’s growth. Our relationship with CB&T has been integral to our success as we continue to grow.”
Team effort
But, Morrow adds, the real reason for Torn Ranch’s success through the years is its team of employees. “I always have to come back to our people,” she says. “We have a phenomenal team of professionals who care, who put a lot of passion into the products they create, and love into the service they provide our customers…it’s really a testament to how much we care about the service levels.
“I know a lot of companies say this about their business, but we truly live that caring attitude each day. Without that, we wouldn’t be what we are and what we’ve become.”