McHutchison Resurrects Vaughan’s Name

Chris Beytes

Vaughan’s is back.

The Chicago-based seed company, which dates back to 1876, is being resurrected—at least in name—by plant and hardgoods broker McHutchison for a new Midwest division that will serve the commercial greenhouse business.

Vaughan Horticulture will be the name of the new division. It will be based in Naperville, Illinois, a Chicago suburb.

For more, GrowerTalks spoke with Keith Cable, who recently joined McHutchison after a career with Syngenta Horticultural Services. We guessed that he was involved in the Vaughan’s project, since he’s based here in Chicago, and we were right. He’ll be in charge of launching the new division (although he didn’t make it sound as though he’ll be running it).

What’s behind the idea? New customers and expanded geography, he says.

“(The new Vaughan’s division) enables us to focus more on the commercial grower segment,” Keith said. “Historically, McHutchison has focused on small and medium-sized growers, independent garden centers, and they’ve sold a lot of nursery stock. This enables us to expand our customer base and expand our geography, and at the same time, leverage some synergies of the support systems that exist within the company.”

Keith says the Vaughan’s product line will focus on products for greenhouses rather than nursery. They won’t be adding seed to the product mix—just plant material, as they currently sell.

Why bring back the Vaughan’s name? The new name reinforces that the new division has a different target customer and different product mix than McHutchison, Keith explained.

“Vaughan’s is a brand in the industry that’s well known, has recognition and embodies a lot of the things we want to be as a broker/distributor. It has a long, rich history in the industry.”

McHutchison has the rights to use the brand name because in 1966 Vaughan’s bought McHutchison, bringing the two firms together. John Vaughan, grandson of the founder, still serves on McHutchison’s board. GT