Meet the Team

Woman in artichoke field

Jane Hayes

Jane Hayes is the founder and president of Monterey Farms since 2000. After working in the culinary field for over 25 years, her entrepreneurial spirit came to life. Exploring new ideas, she began R&D in her home kitchen using locally grown, central coast artichoke farm artichokes and developed a unique, hands-on process that provides fresh tasting artichoke hearts to her customers. Always the innovator, Jane collaborated with Janet in 2022 to create Chef Butter.

woman holding a basket of vegetables and butter

Janet Melac

Janet Melac studied at the Cordon Bleu in Paris, France where she graduated first in her class. She went on to own two award winning fine dining restaurants in California. In 2012 she joined Monterey Farms as Research and Development Chef and Quality Assurance Manager. In 2022, collaborating with Jane, Janet created Chef Butter, drawing from her knowledge of unique flavor combinations. She invites you to add a burst of flavor to your dining with Chef Butter.

North America's only Artichoke Heart Producer

California Artichoke Hearts

The incredible edible flower™

Edible Monterey Bay
Edible Monterey Bay article
article in magazine about Monterey Farms

SHOP LOCAL

Whole Foods Monterey

Local Vender Spotlight

Nutritionix ArtiHeart Fact Sheet

Nutritionix’s goal is to make it easier to understand what you eat. Through interactive nutrition tools and world-renowned nutrition database, they help millions of consumers understand nutrition every single day.

Read More »

SFO Newb Blog | Monterey Farms Artichokes! Found ‘em!

Dano and I are in love with these delicious artichoke hearts (ArtiHearts)… flavored in Herbal, BBQ, or Grilled! We would get our weekly supply at Jimbo’s… Naturally! when we lived in Encinitas. After moving to the Bay Area, I noticed that our local (Redwood City) Whole Foods did not carry

Read More »

Holistic Empire Blog

“OK, so let’s talk about these artichoke hearts!!! I discovered them one day in the produce section of Whole Foods. They come in a sealed plastic bag, and are made on the Monterey Peninsula in California, where artichokes thrive. I very quickly became seriously addicted to these “chokes” marinated only

Read More »

“Fresh Plaza” Article

Vacuum sealed artichoke hearts promote natural health benefits Earlier this year, parts of California experienced freezing conditions which had affected a number of fruit and vegetable varieties. One of these were artichokes, some of which received frost and a subsequently darkened exterior. Producers generally have a hard time selling aesthetically

Read More »