History

Gen­eral Pro­duce Com­pany was founded in 1933 by Chan Tai Oy, who emi­grated from Can­ton, China to Cal­i­for­nia in 1905. He started Gen­eral Pro­duce Com­pany with his three sons, Eddie, Dan, Tom and nephew, Davis Sun. Chan ini­tially oper­ated Tong Sun Com­pany, sell­ing pro­duce and fish from 1906 until 1933. Chan Tai Oy passed away in 1971 at the age of 85, pass­ing the torch to his sons, Eddie, Dan, and Tom and nephew, Davis Sun.

Top Photo: The 16^th Street Pro­duce Mar­ket was the home of Gen­eral Pro­duce for over 50 years.

1910: Chan Tai Oy in front of the Tong Sun Co. at Old Sacra­mento start­ing his daily deliv­er­ies of fresh fruit and fish in Sacramento.

1930’s: Dan Chan Sr. wash­ing car­rots on Gen­eral Produce’s dock.

1949: The founder, Chan Tai Oy, his part­ners and fam­ily in 1949. Back row left-​to-​right: Tom Chan, Kitty & Dan Chan, Davis Sun, Mae & Eddie Chan. Front row: Mae Chan with daugh­ter Mavis, Chan Tai Oy, Lin Chan, Mar­jorie Chan.

Today: Cousins Tom Chan and Dan Chan are the third gen­er­a­tion con­tin­u­ing the fam­ily tra­di­tion of excel­lence that began over 87 years ago. While we are com­mit­ted to con­tin­u­ing our suc­cess­ful tra­di­tion of look­ing at cus­tomers as indi­vid­u­als, treat­ing them with respect, and ser­vic­ing each of them, one at a time, we also believe in evolv­ing with our cus­tomers by devel­op­ing and deliv­er­ing new prod­ucts and ser­vices which antic­i­pate and ful­fill their ever-​changing needs.