Gray & Company
3325 West Polk Road
Hart, Michigan
www.cherryman.com
www.pennantdivine.com
Oceana County

Founded in 1908, Gray & Company is the world’s leading maker of maraschino cherries and glacé fruit. From your local grocery store to the corner scoop shop, from America’s finest restaurants to the nation’s leading bakeries, you’ll find Gray & Company products in the cake, on the menu and in the jar. Gray & Company produces over 30 million pounds of cherries annually. We have processing facilities in Hart, Michigan and Oregon from which we serve North America and markets around the globe. We process maraschino cherries and glace fruit year round at the plant in Hart which employs approximately 130 people.

   

Gray & Company has been processing cherries since before most of its current employees were even born. Today, we stand as the world's largest producer of maraschino cherries - those delicious, colorful candied fruits that permeate the American culinary landscape. Every day, more than 6 million maraschino cherries march out our doors in a variety of packages, sizes, labels, and even assorted colors and flavors.

Our 85% share of the U.S. retail market is testament to our rigorous quality control, consistent product and attentive service. We offer private and branded solutions, including CherryMan, the nation's #1 brand. With two manufacturing plants, global sourcing, and a range of packaging, we are positioned to service the needs of all trade classes, including:

Retail grocery

Club stores

Foodservice distributors

Chain restaurants

Confectioners

Commercial bakeries & wholesalers

We are the largest supplier of glacé fruit to North America's commercial bakeries. So, yes, we're a little sensitive to those fruitcake jokes, and if you find one chock full of our candied cherries, pineapple and citrus peel, you'll find out how delicious these treats can be.

Gray & Company sources its cherries around the world. Most of our cherries are supplied by the two key growing regions of the United States - the Pacific Northwest and Michigan. Gray & Company does operate its own orchard, but the bulk of our supply comes from a long list of contract growers. Because you never know what Mother Nature will bring each year to the U.S. harvest, we also source cherries from Europe, including Italy and Turkey.

We have many jobs throughout our plant. General labor ($8.99 or $10.30) work which includes but not limited to belt sorting, syruping pails & mixing, check weighing, packing cases other than maraschino cases, hand labeling, carton making, palletizing, line clean-up, stacking cases under 30 lbs, and hand packing syrup. We have various operator positions in the plant also: White Cap Operator ($10.88), Depalletizer Operator ($10.88), Forklift Operator ($11.42, $12.11, or $12.45 depending on class), Quality Control Checkers ($12.11), Sanitation ($12.11), Case Packer ($12.45), Filler Operator ($12.11), Palletizer Operator ($12.45), Syrup Maker ($12.45), Weekend Glace Tank Room Operator ($13.14), Mara Relief Operator ($12.11), Labeler Operator ($12.45), Maintenance ($17.24 or $18.54).

We pit and process maraschino cherries all year.

Employees begin at the $8.99 rate when they are hired in. When they have completed their probationary period, which is 60 working days within a 180 consecutive days, they receive an increase to $10.30. When there are openings for higher paying jobs, the jobs are posted and employees that are interested sign their names to the posting list and then interviews are done. All employees currently work five 8-hour days, Monday through Friday. Second and third shift employees receive a $.10 shift premium. We offer health insurance, short term disability, accidental death and dismemberment after 20 consecutive working weeks. We offer 401(k) to employees who have worked with us for a year. We have open enrollment in January and July for 401(k).

We do not provide housing and all our workers are covered by unemployment and workers compensation.