Bidders snap up what's left of Patterson vegetable plant

PATTERSON -- An auctioneer on Wednesday sold off slicers, dicers and other property from the defunct Patterson Vegetable Co.

A two-day auction at the plant, founded in 1946 as Patterson Frozen Foods, involved more than 1,500 items.

Buyers, including people involved in food processing, bid on cutting machines, freezing and packaging equipment, trucks, office furniture, a "vibratory mixing hopper," and much more.

"It went very well," said Michael Bank, a senior vice president at Rabin Worldwide, the San Francisco-based company that conducted the auction.

He declined to disclose the total sale amount but did say that "99.9 percent" of the items sold.

About 150 bidders took part at the site and about the same number participated online, Bank said.

Patterson Vegetable closed in June after management failed to get union concessions that it said were vital to the plant's future. About 350 workers lost their jobs.

The plant, established by Italian immigrant brothers Alfonso and Mario Ielmini, was a prominent part of Patterson for 66 years. It froze a wide variety of vegetables, grown mainly in the Northern San Joaquin Valley.

A group of executives bought the company from the founding family in 2007. Part of the plant was sold in the fall to two other Stanislaus County companies looking to expand their operations.

Sierra Pacific Refrigerated Services and Traina Foods, a dried fruit and tomato producer, formed Traina Pacific to buy a 100,000-square-foot refrigerated warehouse, other warehouses and the repackaging area. The companies remain separate businesses.