The Story of SK Produce
Sam Kozu
How we started
In 1946, Sam and Aya Kozu returned to Seattle from St. Paul, Minnesota, where they lived for several years following their incarceration in Minidoka, Idaho during WWII. Soon after Sam’s return to Seattle, an opening at Pike Place Market allowed him to rent a storefront at 1916 Pike Place (just 2 doors down from the original Starbucks Coffee). With his brother, Pete Kozu, Sam started S.K. Produce Company.
Kozu Family Crest
Historic locations
In 1952, Sam and Pete moved their business to Western Avenue, just below the market on what was known as Produce Row. Their business was located one block from the waterfront and gave their trucks easier access to the roads that took them to restaurants in the outlying areas of Seattle. Later, Sam and Pete moved to Occidental Avenue, which had become the new Produce Row, settling into a location that is now the main parking garage for the Seattle Mariners at T-Mobile Park.
Due to the construction of the new baseball stadium in 1997, S.K. Produce needed to relocate again, this time further south to 270 South Hanford, its present location.
Aya and Sam Kozu with their sons, Steve and Jim
A New Generation
After settling into the Pike Place Market location 1946, Sam and Aya began raising their two sons, Steve and Jim, who both worked at the warehouse as young children. Eventually, as teenagers, the boys began driving the trucks to deliver produce. Several years later, as a young child, daughter Kathy began helping Aya in the office. Other cousins helped during the summers, making S.K. Produce a truly family owned and operated company.
In 1979, son Jim joined the company full time, and S.K. Produce became a corporation. Pete Kozu retired that year, and in 1982 after Sam retired, Jim became the full owner. Jim’s wife, Corky, also joined the company, taking over the accounting duties from Aya.
Jim and Corky’s son, Scott joined his parents to run the company in 2007, and S.K. Produce became a third-generation owned and operated company.
“We value our family environment and include our customers and employees as an extension of our family.”
Scott Kozu Owner SK Produce
Along the Way
In 1997, Jim and Corky created Pacific Rim Distributing, a produce brokerage house, and began bringing in loads directly from California. This allowed them to expand beyond restaurants to markets, ship supply companies, and customers in Alaska.
In 2015, S.K. Produce acquired another local family-owned wholesale produce company, Asia Discount Center, Inc., which specialized in providing produce to Asian businesses. Along with a staff of loyal employees, S.K. Produce Company and Asia Discount Center maintain the 76-year-old family tradition of providing excellent service and produce to many restaurants and markets in the greater Seattle and Tacoma areas. We value our family environment and include our customers and employees as an extension of our family.
