Opened tin can with canned tomatoes, on red background

Morning Star Tomatoes Buys Del Monte Foods Hanford, California, Facility

March 12, 2025

Although the tomato processor purchased the property and its 670,000-sq.-ft. tomato processing plant, a local news report said that the company will turn around and look for another buyer.

Andy Hanacek

Morning Star Tomatoes, a Woodland, Calif.-based tomato products processor, has purchased the Hanford, Calif., Del Monte Foods plant, according to a local news report. Morning Star processes approximately 40% of the state’s tomato production, the report said, supplying tomato paste and sauce to U.S. food customers.

Morning Star is owned by Chris Rufer, who was sourced for the news story, and operates three plants in California. Rufer told the news outlet that the company actually does not plan to use the facility and will instead look to attract another buyer. The facility would work for other types of food processing, he said, but is currently set up to process tomatoes — he also said that Del Monte was still seeking a company to do its canning.

Del Monte planned to close the plant and vacate it by June, opting not to process the 2025 tomato crop and put up the 670,000-sq.-ft. facility for sale. Morning Star’s Rufer said industry consolidation and downward pressure on the popularity of canned tomato products among 18- to 30-year-olds impacted the future of the facility.

About the Author

Andy Hanacek | Senior Editor

Andy Hanacek has covered meat, poultry, bakery and snack foods as a B2B editor for nearly 20 years, and has toured hundreds of processing plants and food companies, sharing stories of innovation and technological advancement throughout the food supply chain. In 2018, he won a Folio:Eddie Award for his unique "From the Editor's Desk" video blogs, and he has brought home additional awards from Folio and ASBPE over the years. In addition, Hanacek led the Meat Industry Hall of Fame for several years and was vice president of communications for We R Food Safety, a food safety software and consulting company.