Atom Banana History

Founded at the turn of the 20th century on South Water Street, Atom Banana survived many tough times including the Great Depression and World War II, and continued to flourish in the 1950s and 60s under the direction of George and John Gatziolis.  When Dean Gatziolis took over in the 1970s as the third generation owner, he helped the company reach new levels of success.  He pioneered new technology in the industry with the introduction of pressurized ripening rooms.  By the time Atom Banana entered the 1990s, it had become one of the largest privately owned banana ripeners in North America.  At the turn of the new millennium, Atom Banana became a fourth generation company, directed by Alec Gatziolis.  In 2005, Alec helped initiate construction of a brand new facility, and from 2007 to 2008 he completed a two-phase project including 23 brand new double- and triple-tier ripening rooms, which today offer the most advanced ripening technology available in the industry. 

Frequently Asked Questions

 

Did You Know?

Where bananas originate from?

The banana is one of the oldest known fruits in the history. It is believed that the banana first grew in Southern Asia and that after many centuries it spread through the East and to the West. "Mohammedans" called the banana tree a "paradise tree", and Hindus believed the banana tree was sacred to their goddess Kali. Father Tomas De Berlanga, a priest of the sixteenth century, brought some roots of the banana plant with him to the New World. He hoped to win the friendship of the Indians with this mellow, golden fruit, and thus to convert them to christianity. Now, acres of banana plantations exist in tropical regions of the Americas! The banana is actually grown on a plant and not on a tree. It is perhaps the largest plant in existence without a woody stem. The stalk, which grows from 3.5 to 9 meters and looks like a tree trunk, is really a firm mass of leaf sheaves. There is a huge tuft of drooping leaves at the top of the plant, which are bright green in color. One large flower bud grows from the central stalk and in due time, gives place to the fruit. As the bunch of fruit grows heavier, the stalk bends downward, so that the bananas hang with their points up. Only one bunch of bananas grows on each plant, but a bunch often weighs 45 kilograms or more! Bananas are not allowed to ripen on the plant, as they may burst and spoil before they can be picked. Therefore, they are always cut while green, even when they are not to be shipped anywhere.

Do bananas grow on trees?

Bananas (Musa paradisiaca L.) are herbaceous plants, not trees, despite having an apparent ‘trunk’ and typically growing up to 6 m tall. The ‘trunk’, or pseudostem, comprises the tightly rolled leaf sheathes which arise from a bud on an underground storage organ called a corm. About 30 leaves emerge from the bud over 7-8 months before flowering. The large flower ‘spike’ has separate male and female flowers. However, in commercial cultivars the fruit, clustered in several ‘hands’ in each bunch, are set at the base of the female flowers without any pollination. This is known as parthenocarpy and the bananas, which botanically speaking are berries, are sterile with no seeds.