Who We Are

BOBALU! (Bob-a-loo) What a fun word to say!

BOBALU comes from our grandparents, Bob and Lupe, who started it all. They believed in growing the highest quality, sustainable and innovative berry products. We are proud to be continuing that tradition to this day. We are a “Family Grown, Farmer Owned” company.

 

1958: Bob Jones started growing strawberries in the Oxnard area. Bob Jones’ strawberries garnered a reputation for being some of the highest quality and best tasting strawberries in the nation.

 

1962: Bob and Lupe Jones launch their new brand “BOBALU” and expand into marketing and shipping strawberries.

1972: Bob Jones expands into pre-cooling and distribution of strawberries.

 

1984: In the quest to become completely vertically integrated in the strawberry industry Bob Jones enters into the strawberry processing business.

 

1998-2016: During these years Bob Jones, his son and grandsons partnered with a number of shippers to help them build their Southern California strawberry presence. These shippers included: Cal Giant, Coastal Berry, Dole, Sunrise Growers, and Cal-Fruit.

 

2017: The Jones brothers seize on the opportunity to supply their customers with year-round high quality strawberries by expanding operations in Oxnard, Santa Maria, Salinas, Florida, and Mexico.

 

Today: We have grown to become a fully integrated Grower, Packer, Shipper, and Processor. We have many associates who themselves are third generation members of our extended family. Our management team of family members have over 250 collective years of strawberry growing and packing experience. This is precisely why have adopted the “Family Grown, Farmer Owned” slogan.

What Makes Us Different

Family Business

We are a 4th generation Califonia family farm with deep roots farming strawberries in California.  We are proud to market under the Bobalu label in honor of those who started it all, Bob and Lupe Jones.

Core Values

100% of Bobalu strawberries are hand-picked and packed on our ranches. At Bobalu we feel it is our job on this earth to feed the planet and do it in a sustainable way. Having an in-house processing plant is crucial to this goal. While picking fresh market berries in the field, only about 80% of the strawberries are high enough quality to meet our standards. None of our berries go to waste. Between local food banks, charities, and our culling program which feeds our processing plant all of our berries are fully utilized.