Sambrailo Packaging Celebrates 100 Years of Out-of-the-Box Thinking

For the last 100 years, Sambrailo Packaging has delivered trend-predicting packaging solutions to support the fruits of farmers' labor.

“Packaging plays such an important role in helping our customers market their valuable crop, no matter what that is,” said Matt Manfre, strategic sales development executive at Sambrailo Packaging.

Matt Manfre, Strategic Sales Development Executive, Sambrailo Packaging

Charles Sambrailo began in the apple business, then the largest commodity grown in the Central Coast community of Watsonville, California. Those hand-nailed, wooden apple crates, used from 1923 to the 1950s, were coveted then for their stackability and durability.

Charles Sambrailo, Founder, Sambrailo Packaging

First, Sambrailo stayed true to its original medium, manufacturing wooden crates and small berry baskets. To continue meeting the needs of the berry industry into the 1980s, the company designed the bright yellow cardboard trays featuring the memorable, retro strawberry design. These 12-by-20-inch open, corrugated cardboard trays with green mesh baskets are still used today.

“Packaging plays such an important role in helping our customers market their valuable crop, no matter what that is.” - Matt Manfre

Sambrailo reached the next frontier in packaging in 1987 with the introduction of the industry’s first plastic clamshell. The legend goes that the Sambrailos hatched the idea for the transparent, hinged, ventilated design after a stop at a fast food drive-thru, said Manfre. The containers housing their burgers inspired the produce clamshell that still reigns today as the industry standard.

Sambrailo clamshell packaging

While the plastic clamshell continues to dominate as the most popular produce packaging option for berries, Sambrailo has been introducing innovative products that help respond to the multi-layered challenges of the agricultural industry—including environmental concerns.

ReadyCycle is a 100 percent recyclable and home compostable, single-use plastic packaging alternative. This product, launched in 2017, also eliminates traditional labels with its vegetable-based inks printed directly on any surface of the unwaxed paperboard packaging.

While the plastic clamshell continues to dominate as the most popular produce packaging option for berries, Sambrailo has been introducing innovative products that help respond to the multi-layered challenges of the agricultural industry—including environmental concerns.

Sambrailo Packaging, now in the fourth generation of family ownership, is prioritizing sustainable packaging, said Manfre. Nearly a decade of work on ReadyCycle has inspired a pivot from the company’s historically berry-centric business model as it celebrates its 100th year.

ReadyCycle packaging

“We can now expand the market with commodities we haven’t even thought about,” Manfre said. “There’s a ton of versatility when you don’t have plastic injection molding.”

With ReadyCycle, Sambrailo Packaging once again hit on a packaging solution that meets the needs and wants of today’s agricultural customers, from growers to shippers and consumers, Manfre said.

“We can now expand the market with commodities we haven’t even thought about. There’s a ton of versatility when you don’t have plastic injection molding.” - Matt Manfre

“Sambrailo is not just a one hit-wonder idea. It's an ever-evolving company in regard to what we have innovated and produced,” Manfre said. 

The introduction of ReadyCycle, which earned the 2018 Best Packaging Promo award from the Produce Marketing Association, encouraged unexpected growers and retailers to contact CEO Mark Sambrailo—from big-box wholesaler Costco to a mushroom grower in New York. Today, Sambrailo Packaging supports diverse commodities like tomatoes, peppers, lettuces, pearl onions, and microgreens, along with strawberries.

Coke Farm organic padron peppers in custom ReadyCycle packaging

“You can depend on us to bring a fresh idea to a customer. [Products] that make them say, ‘that’s the next phase of my company too,’” Manfre said.

Costco enlisted Sambrailo Packaging to help bring a 1.75-pound ReadyCycle box of organic ginger to its shelves nationwide. While plastic clamshells and corrugated trays still represent Sambrailo’s core business, the flexibility of ReadyCycle’s die-cut design is expanding the business in constantly evolving ways.

“You can depend on us to bring a fresh idea to a customer. [Products] that make them say, ‘that’s the next phase of my company too.’” - Matt Manfre

“Before ReadyCycle, we wouldn’t have been able to design a package for ginger at Costco and reach out into a commodity we haven’t touched,” Manfre said.

As Sambrailo Packaging reflects on 100 years, they credit their customers with helping them deliver a legacy of innovative and useful packaging solutions.

The Sambrailo packaging team of 1980 in front of their first crate shed on Walker Street

“The number one component to product development is customer feedback. We’re following our customer’s lead and helping how we can,” Manfre said.

These customers include a wide range of both commodities and business sizes. Producers as large as the berry industry giant Driscoll’s to “the smallest farmer you can think of” choose Sambrailo Packaging, said Manfre.

“The number one component to product development is customer feedback. We’re following our customer’s lead and helping how we can.” - Matt Manfre

Sambrailo Packaging supports operations throughout California and Mexico but maintains the original headquarters in Watsonville. The company's century-long connection to the community comes through during recent disasters, including devastating floods that hit the region in March 2023. Sambrailo’s top brass responded by organizing a clothing drive, Manfre said.

Mark Sambrailo and Tony Cadiente

“Watsonville is where the Sambrailo family is raised and established,” said Manfre, a fellow Watsonville native. “It’s actually pretty cool to grow a company to the size we are now and give back. That is one of the biggest pillars of our company, being loyal to your roots.”