Rancho Gordo
Gourmet grocery store · Napa ·
Heirloom bean purveyor offering unique varieties, cookbooks, spices
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/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/66794133/RawBeans_72_EOG.0.jpg "Rancho Gordo by Steve Sando")
:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/19969282/BeanGuide_84_85.jpg "Rancho Gordo by Rancho Gordo")
:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/19969267/BeanGuide_Final_Cover.jpg "Rancho Gordo by Rancho Gordo")
Heirloom bean purveyor offering unique varieties, cookbooks, spices
"Known for championing heirloom and new-crop varieties, this bean purveyor has built a near-cult following — its Bean Club had a 2022 waitlist of about 40,000 — by sourcing rare, highly flavorful beans such as black chickpeas and dappled vaqueros that prioritize taste over commodity yield. The founder’s primer demystifies beans with detailed profiles of some 50 varieties, practical cooking guidance (including safety notes about toxins like phytohaemagglutinin), and historical context, arguing that careful attention to each batch links cooks to their ancestors and the land. While many recipes showcase the company’s specialty beans, they include sensible substitutes, and the overall ethos is that better beans and thoughtful cooking can make legumes exciting and accessible to cooks of many diets." - Bettina Makalintal
"Founded by Steve Sando, this artisan bean purveyor helped shift perceptions of limas from bland pantry staples to flavorful legumes: Sando — who once dismissed butter/lima beans — came to appreciate their depth after entering the bean business, and customers have followed suit, with an uptick in lima sales and Q4 shipments even including purple-streaked "Christmas" limas." - Tanya Basu
"At the center of this legal fight is Rancho Gordo, a Napa-based bean company founded by bean evangelist Steve Sando and known largely for its cult-favorite monthly bean club. I note that the company has been sued by former shipping-department worker Martha Martinez, who filed suit in 2021 alleging sex, national origin and pregnancy discrimination as well as retaliation and wrongful termination after being placed at the company via a staffing agency in late 2019; Martinez says coworkers made derogatory comments about her race, she told some coworkers she was pregnant in early 2020, and two days after notifying her supervisor of a family emergency she was terminated. A jury in March 2023 awarded Martinez nearly $252,000 after four days of deliberations, finding the company liable for pregnancy discrimination and retaliation, but Judge Cynthia Smith later overturned the retaliation verdict and has now granted Rancho Gordo’s motion for a new trial, concluding there was insufficient evidence that director of operations Jason Lucero knew Martinez was pregnant or that her firing was motivated by discriminatory animus. Rancho Gordo’s attorney Shane Anderie called the ruling a "temporary vindication," saying the company will prepare for a new trial and describing the legal process as "surprisingly daunting for a local small business to defend itself," while Martinez’s attorney Arlo Uriarte expects both sides to appeal; a status conference is set for August 25." - Lauren Saria
"A Napa-based bean company, Rancho Gordo, was found by a jury on March 23 to have discriminated and retaliated against a temporary worker over her pregnancy, and the jury awarded Martha Martinez $252,000 in damages. Martinez, who worked as a temp from late 2019 into 2020, had accused the company of discrimination based on sex, national origin (El Salvador), and pregnancy, plus retaliation and wrongful termination; jurors deliberated for four days, breaking a deadlock and siding with her on some — but not all — accusations. The panel concluded that her pregnancy was a factor in her 2020 termination, that the firing caused harm, and that the company retaliated by not hiring her for future work after complaints; jurors did not find in her favor on the national-origin discrimination claim. The award covered $15,566.40 in lost past earnings, $86,400 for future medical expenses, $75,000 for past emotional distress, and $75,000 for future emotional distress. Rancho Gordo and owner Steve Sando refuted the claims in court, saying the company was unaware of Martinez’s pregnancy, and Sando told staff via Slack that the verdict was a “crushing loss,” insisting the decision stemmed from seasonal needs, that staff had acted professionally, and that the company’s legal team advised him not to speak publicly until the matter is truly over; Martinez’s lawyers at Liberation Law Group said her “sense of justice was correct.”" - Dianne de Guzman
"A Napa-based heirloom bean purveyor, Rancho Gordo has grown over more than two decades into a food-culture phenomenon: founder Steve Sando set out to introduce more people to heirloom bean varieties, he’s been hailed as a “bean king,” and thousands of people fill a waitlist for the company’s hit bean club. I also report that a former temporary warehouse worker, Martha Martinez, who began as a shipping clerk in November 2019, filed a lawsuit in Napa County Superior Court in July 2021 alleging the company discriminated against her based on “sex, national origin, and pregnancy” and wrongfully terminated her for being pregnant. Martinez says coworkers made derogatory comments about Salvadorans—calling them “very horny” and “like whores”—and that a supervisor participated; both sides agree the comments occurred on a single day when she was first hired, though Martinez says other staff later made comments about her body and how she dressed. According to the lawsuit, Martinez told her supervisor she was pregnant in February 2020, then missed work for a “family emergency” and was told by the supervisor that “Rancho Gordo would not need her anymore,” while later text messages from the supervisor say she was unaware of the pregnancy and was fired for being “absent too frequently.” The company says it ended all temporary work assignments in February 2020 due to the onset of the pandemic and decreased sales, and founder Steve Sando declined to comment to Eater SF." - Lauren Saria
