The Early Years – Bacchetti Dairy Era

Over 60 years ago, Bautista Bacchetti emigrated from Italy to America. Young and determined, he traveled to California, first landing in Eureka before finally settling in Tracy where he began the American Dream and opened the first Bacchetti Family Dairy. Alongside him was his son Bert Bacchetti. Bert, being just as determined as his father, began toying with farming while helping his father with the dairy. He started in the early 1950’s with 40 acres of land harvesting tomatoes, alfalfa, and grain.

Bert Bacchetti Farms Era

By the mid 50’s, Bert married Gloria and together they began their family of 3, with daughters Gail, Pat, and son Mark. Now, just as Bert did with his father, Mark was with Bert learning the family business. At age 8, when not in school, Mark was out on the farm.

As years went on, Bert became more successful with the farm and sold the dairy. In 1968, the 40 acres had grown to 500 and was incorporated as Bert Bacchetti Farms. Mark, still by his father’s side, joined full time in 1976, and together over the next 20 years they brought the farm from 500 acres to 2000, farming asparagus and beans along with the original commodities, tomatoes, alfalfa, and grain.

In 1977 Mark married Mary, and like his mother, Mary settled into running the office and doing any job on the farm as was needed. They went on to have two children of their own, Ryan and Alissa.

Marca Bella Farms Era

In 1996, Mark displaying the same ambition his father and grandfather had, dreamed of his own farm. It was then that Marca Bella Farms was born. Together Bert Bacchetti Farms and Marca Bella Farms built a state-of-the-art asparagus packing shed.

For the next 3 years, father and son continued working side by side, until in 1999 when the Bacchetti family suffered the loss of their father, Bert. From 1999 to 2002, Mark continued the family businesses and expanded, taking the 2,000 acres to 5,000. Being the visionary that he is, and adhering his father’s words of wisdom; “You must be honest, do your best, provide the best quality and always be progressive,” Mark saw the full potential of the packing shed he and his father had built just a few years prior, and began growing fresh sweet corn on the farm to pack in the shed in 1998. As Mark’s innovative product began to gain traction in the marketplace, Mark & Mary realized that they had developed a concept that was going to be more popular than they had dreamed.

Prima Bella Produce Era – GloriAnn Brand Development

In 2001, Mark and Mary Bacchetti started Prima Bella Produce, and created the “GloriAnn” label, named after Mark’s mother. The GloriAnn label served as the origin of Prima Bella’s tray pack corn. Their first order was simple: 5 boxes of the 4 pack, white GloriAnn corn, delivered using Mark’s pickup truck. And the rest, as they say, is history.

In 2010, Mark & Mary welcomed Bill and Joe Colace into the Prima Bella family. Like Mark, both brothers are also continuing the legacy that their grandfather and father started. Joe’s outstanding farming practices, extensive knowledge of the many different growing regions and his strong grower base assure remarkable quality and integrity to our already select group of growers. Bill’s experience in sales and marketing has helped to introduce the GloriAnn product line to an ever growing customer base and his sales & marketing team offer an extensive knowledge of the complex markets in the produce industry. Bill and Joe’s marketing company, Five Crowns Marketing, is now handling all the sales for Prima Bella and we couldn’t be happier.