2014 Business Class Honoree: Hammons Products Co.

One man’s trash is another man’s treasure. And one Ozarks company has been proving that maxim for nearly 70 years as it's steadily built an international reputation from the millions of black walnuts which fall from area trees.

Hammons Products Co. is the largest employer in Stockton and the nation’s leading producer of black walnuts. Since its inception in 1946, the company has grown to 77 employees and processes 24 million pounds of nuts each year. The annual harvest is gathered by thousands of individual collectors, who are paid around $0.13 per pound for the green-husked fruits that fall from wild-growing trees and managed orchards. After intake at one of 214 buying and hulling stations located across 16 states, the nuts are transported to the Stockton facility, where they are cleaned, dried, cracked and processed.

Based on size and quality of the nut pieces, the final product is sorted and distributed to food production companies or packaged for retail sale – either under the Hammons house label or by well-known brands including Fischer and Diamond. However, the most prominent use is in prepared products, primarily the black walnut ice cream manufactured by dairy brands such as Hiland, Bluebell and Braum’s.

And Americans have acquired the taste, as evidenced by the company’s two-year revenue growth averaging 15 percent and nearly 100 percent profit growth in 2013. Yet, Hammons’ success can’t completely be attributed to a love of eating.

Since the beginning, the company also has utilized the ultra-hard shell remnants as a supplemental source of revenue, selling the hull for use in the production of abrasives. The density and texture of the ground-up shell particles make them a unique scouring ingredient, which is purchased by companies across the globe for the cleaning, scrubbing and filtration products.  Third-generation company President Brian Hammons says the downstream uses of walnut shell particles include everything from jet engine cleaners, oil drilling equipment to cosmetics and has even been used to clean the Statue of Liberty.

While the abrasive side of the business represents approximately 25 percent of Hammons Products’ revenue, the primary appeal of the black walnut remains its unique flavor, and new business development is focused on that.

Hammons says the company’s products are featured in cities such as Chicago and here at home by Chef Wes Johnson, who has used a black walnut pesto to accompany a duck dish at Springfield’s locally-focused Metropolitan Farmer restaurant.

“The flavor of black walnuts as an ingredient fits in with trends in food,” Hammons says, citing a recent demonstration for the Food Network. “It’s not a mild nut that sits back and just gives a crunch. It has a very bold flavor that provides a unique complement to a lot of dishes.”[[In-content Ad]]