Ceres-based petroleum distributor gets new owner after 88 years in founder’s family
A Sacramento-based company has acquired E. R. Vine & Sons, a petroleum distributor founded in Ceres in 1932.
New owner Hunt & Sons is retaining the 90 or so employees and the Vine brand, outgoing President Jeff LeBeouf said Thursday at the Railroad Avenue headquarters.
“We have been in this community for 88 years, and it’s a good name in the community,” he said.
Vine distributes vehicle fuel and lubricants to gas stations and agricultural customers, mainly between Lodi and Madera.
The sale includes seven Vine-owned fueling stations in Ceres, Modesto and Stockton that serve commercial fleets, the public or both. It does not involve the 76 station on Kiernan Avenue in Salida.
Hunt also acquired two affiliated businesses – Vine Transportation, which hauls petroleum products, and Donlee Pump, which sells and services tanks, pumps and related equipment.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The management at Hunt & Sons declined to comment.
Founder started with Model A
LeBeouf is a grandson-in-law of Ellis R. Vine, who launched the business with 5-gallon cans on the running boards of a Ford Model A.
Back then, Vine sold fuel to farmers under the Sunland label from Bakersfield. Other brands followed over the years, such as Enco in the 1960s, later Exxon. Today, it’s 76 and Valero fuel, along with Phillips 66 lubricants and related products..
Vine has evolved with the industry as it became increasingly regulated, and as mini-marts came to be paired with the stations.
New owner has history, too
Hunt & Sons employed about 200 people before the Vine deal, at 13 offices and 38 fleet fueling sites, some under the Pacific Pride banner.
They extend from Sonora to Red Bluff, plus a few in the Bay Area and one in Sparks, Nev. Hunt also deals in propane.
Warren Hunt Jr. founded the company more than 70 years ago. “They are third-generation, just like us,” LeBeouf said.
