Graber olives, once esteemed by celebrities and a staple at prominent events, are facing extinction as the family-run cannery struggles with labor shortages and financial crises. The 130-year-old business in Ontario, California, has seen declining seasonal help over the past two years, leading to concerns that its unique curing recipe and beloved olives might disappear forever. The Graber family worries about meeting a looming $1.55 million loan deadline, emphasizing the precarious situation of America's oldest olive company, once a culinary icon.
Canned olives aren't usually such an exciting prospect. They tend to be briny with little hint of the, well, oliveness under the salt. But Grabers are a different experience altogether: big, meaty and green with a rosy hue, and something like eating a pod of pure olive oil.
For two years in a row no high school students have helped out during the fall and winter season, and seasonal workers have not returned to fill cans with the buttery, tree-ripened olives on equipment that is more than a century old.
The nation's oldest olive business might be gone forever, done in by a combination of extreme weather and shaky finances. An emergency $1.55 million loan comes due in March, and the Graber family worries it might be the end.
We still have customers come by and ask, Where's Graber? Where's Graber?' That question may have an unhappy answer.
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