California Vegetable Specialites, Inc.

California Vegetable Specialties is a specialty farming company dedicated to the consistent production of highest-quality California Endive. With growing fields throughout Northern California, the company is headquartered in the town of Rio Vista, in the historically rich agricultural region of the Sacramento River Delta. We produce white and red endive, as well as several specialty products for chefs, Endigia and Pissenlit.

Richard Collins, a Sacramento native and graduate of the Agricultural and Managerial Economics program at the University of California, Davis, founded the company in 1983 as Rebel Farms. He chose the name in response to the many naysayers who deemed him foolish for trying to grow endive for the U.S. market. Today, California Vegetable Specialties is the only U.S. producer of endive, and dominates the market west of the Mississippi, selling nearly 4 million pounds of endive each year.

Since 1987, California Vegetable Specialties has been a part of the French-based Darome Group of International Companies. The Darome Group operates in three business sectors: specialized agricultural production, food processing, and trade. Darome began working with CVS in 1985, and the "technology transfer" of endive production methods from Europe to California has been instrumental in the success of the California Endive.