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FILLMORE — Thousands of people pass by a gray and blue building on the west side of I-15 in Fillmore every day.
Most people don't know what goes on inside.
"I guess it's kind of a secret here, but now we want to make sure everyone knows that we're here," said Bart Adams, the CEO of the small, mom-and-pop business. "We've been here since 1974."
The business is Mountain View Mushrooms.
Adams bought out his father three years ago to run the place, and yes, there are a lot of mushrooms here.
"Well, we grow over 6 million pounds a year. We're kind of a mid-sized mushroom farm as far as the industry is concerned, but we're the only commercial farm in Utah," said Adams.
From composting material, spawning and seeding hundreds of wooden trays, to harvesting, packing and shipping the mushrooms … workers here do it all.
"It's as much art as it is science," said Adams.
It takes roughly 20 days from composting to harvesting.
About 120 people work at Mountain View Mushrooms, but the company services a lot of customers through its distributors like Panda Express, Ruth's Chris Steakhouse and Zuppa's.
Also, if you've eaten a portobello, crimini or regular white mushroom in Salt Lake City or Las Vegas, either at a fancy restaurant or at a fast-food joint, chances are it came from Fillmore.
"Yeah, 80 percent chance it's from us. We have about 80 percent of the Salt Lake and 80 percent of the Las Vegas food service markets," said Adams.
Mountain View Mushrooms also ships to the Los Angeles area.
However, most people don't recognize the name of the company because their customers are mainly restaurants. You don't really see them in grocery stores.
That's one place Adams says they would like to do better, is with regular, everyday customers.
The company put up billboards in Fillmore letting drivers know about a small store attached to the facility where customers can buy fresh mushrooms.
"It's done well. Yeah, we have a lot of people who pull right off the freeway who say, 'We saw your billboard and we didn't know you were here,'" said Adams. "We've grown each of the last three years and we have prospects to grow again this year and things are looking up."
Contributing: Mike DeBernardo
