Martinous Produce Co. — History

The Martinous family has been in the produce business from the time Farris Martinous arrived in this country in 1911.

Martinous Brothers Produce Company was founded by John and Raymond Martinous shortly after John returned from World War II.

In the late 1940’s and early 1950’s the Martinous Brothers would travel to different growing areas in Missouri, Arkansas, and Oklahoma, loading up their, not always so dependable, bobtail van trucks with strawberries, apples, peaches, tomatoes, and other seasonal produce. They would then return to the Joplin City Market and sell some of their produce to other peddlers and retail stores. They also had established their own “routes” to peddle to. John’s route was Chanute, Kansas while Raymond’s was Iola, Kansas. Of course, they also sold to any stores they could between Pittsburg and their destination.

As time passed the brothers decided to try and expand their short line of seasonal produce to include such staple items as head lettuce, oranges, and grapefruit.

While many items could be picked up at the Joplin City Market or at other wholesale houses, John and Raymond had no place to store the more temperature sensitive produce.

In the middle 1950’s, the brothers converted some garage type storage buildings behind their mother’s house at 503 North Grand into three coolers; one for tomatoes, one for potatoes, and one for everything else.

In 1961, John and Raymond bought the John Joseph property located at East Seventh and North Michigan Street in Pittsburg. There they built larger coolers and began to expand their produce line. In 1971 they built an 8,100 square foot warehouse at 703 North Michigan and in 1975 they added another 8,100 square feet to house their growing retail and food service business.

After John’s death in 1978, Raymond and John’s youngest son, Farris, became partners. Although Martinous Brothers Produce sold food service to retail customers for over 30 years, in 1980 it began to concentrate on the retail trade only.

On December 7, 1989, Martinous Brothers Produce became Martinous Produce Company Inc. Five years later in 1994 Raymond retired and Farris, with his wife Mary Carol, became the owners. Over the next few years Farris and his son, Paul, continued to develop new customers and explore new areas.

By the turn of the new century it became apparent that the facility at seventh and Michigan just wasn’t large enough or adequate for the changing and demanding produce industry. The advent of processed salads and fresh cut fruit made it necessary to have a facility with a climate controlled atmosphere. In August of 2003 Martinous Produce moved into their new 38,500 square foot facility at 3510 North Lonestar Road in the Pittsburg Industrial Park. The entire warehouse area is refrigerated to ensure that the “cold chain” required for heat sensitive cut fruits and vegetables, is kept in tact. The new facility has also allowed Martinous to enlarge their “Nature’s Glory” repacking program.

With the addition of Farris and Mary Carol’s daughter, Maria and her husband, Matt and a firm hope of someday adding Paul’s son, John Paul, Martinous Produce Company is looking forward to continuing to supply their retail customer with outstanding service and quality produce.