Auvil Fruit Company, Inc.

Employer Summary

Gee Whiz, part of the Auvil Fruit family of companies, is a premium grower and producer of Washington apples and cherries sold under the highly regarded Gee Whiz brand. We are seeking a qualified individual to join our team as our Food Safety Manager, to help us support our growing company. As a key member of the Food Safety Team, the Orchard Food Safety and Safety Manager is responsible for monitoring and executing safety needs at the orchard and warehouse levels. This position uses training in HACCP, FSMA, SQF, OSHA and LI practices, to monitor, adapt protocols and ensure clear, informative communication to the Food Safety and Safety Manager and the company.

In March of 1928, Grady Auvil, and his brothers Robert and David purchased 22 acres of land in the community of Orondo, Washington, located about 25 miles north of East Wenatchee on the Columbia River and founded Auvil Fruit Company. Grady and his brothers’ dream of owning their own orchard was about to come true. After clearing the land, which was mostly rock and sagebrush, they planted apples and apricots with Bartlett pears as fillers and built a house on the land, working for other people until the orchard came into production. Grady and his brothers planted more orchard in 1935; and by 1940 they were farming about 40 acres. Later, peaches were added to the other varieties of fruit already in the ground. In 1947, they built a packing facility and cold storage in Orondo and began packing and storing their own fruit. By the end of the 1940s, Auvil Fruit Company had expanded to 75 acres. In the 1950s after the building of the Rocky Reach Dam, much of the orchard had to be replanted on higher ground. Grady and his brothers purchased new land adjacent to their original orchard and began to rebuild, taking this as an opportunity to experiment with new varieties and planting methods. 

In the 1960s they planted some of the first Red Gold nectarines in the Northwest and continued to expand. By 1977, Auvil’s farm had grown to 250 acres, with 215 acres on which cherries, pears, peaches, nectarines as well as Red Delicious, Golden Delicious and Granny Smith apples were produced. In 1979, Auvil Fruit Company purchased a 1,000-acre piece of land in Kittitas County, 12 miles south of Vantage, Washington, planting the first 100 acres the following year. By the 1990s, Auvil Fruit Company owned and farmed over 1,000 acres, and had shifted production almost exclusively to apples and cherries. In 1994, Auvil Fruit Company built a much larger packing facility at its corporate headquarters in Orondo. 

Auvil Fruit currently owns and farms over 1,500 acres of apples and cherries. Maintaining Grady Auvil’s passion for supplying top quality fruit, and continuing to employ innovative farming practices, Auvil Fruit Company continues to be a leader in the premium fruit market.