Kings River Packing

Along the Kings River in California's Central Valley, the Hazelton family has been growing citrus on the same land for generations. What started as a family farm in Sanger has grown into Kings River Packing — a name that stands for something specific in the produce world: citrus that's tended with real care, picked at the right moment, and packed with the grower's name behind it. That name matters to the Hazeltons. They put it on every box, and they mean it.

The family still walks the groves themselves — just as their parents did, and their grandparents before them. There's a hands-on quality to how Kings River operates that resists being delegated away. The Hazeltons know their trees. They know how a grove behaves in a dry year versus a wet one, which blocks need more attention, and when a variety is ready versus when it looks ready. That institutional knowledge, accumulated across generations on the same land, is what separates their fruit from operations that grow citrus as a commodity.

Their core program runs navels, lemons, and clementines — the Central Valley standards — but what distinguishes Kings River is how well they grow them. Their navels have the sweetness and weight that come from trees that aren't pushed for yield. Their lemons are clean and consistent. Their clementines arrive at peak. These aren't exotic varieties, but in the right hands, the everyday is exactly where quality shows most clearly.

"Nathel & Nathel truly understands the importance of partnership. Their support makes us feel like an integral part of their extended family."

The Hazelton Family  ·  Kings River Packing

When their fruit leaves Sanger, the Hazeltons trust it'll be handled with the same standards they maintained in the grove. That's the commitment Nathel & Nathel made when the partnership began in 2020 — cold chain managed to spec, product handled correctly, and a shared understanding that every label carrying the Kings River name is carrying the Hazelton family's reputation with it.

Specialty citrus you won't find at every wholesaler.

Beyond their core lineup, Kings River grows varieties that require a different kind of commitment. Their Raspberry Oranges are the clearest example — a deep-red flesh orange with a faint berry sweetness that stops people mid-bite. These aren't a gimmick. They're the result of careful variety selection and the patience to grow something unusual at a quality level worth selling. The Hazeltons don't add a variety to their program unless it earns its place.

Their Golden Nuggets offer something different again — easy-peel, intensely sweet, with a richness that holds even after shipping. Consumers who encounter them at retail tend to come back for them specifically. That's the kind of product loyalty that's built at the farm level, not the marketing level, and Kings River understands the difference.

For a wholesaler, carrying these varieties well means having a grower partner who maintains quality through the whole season — and a distribution relationship capable of getting specialty fruit to retail without losing what makes it worth buying. That's the value of the Kings River and Nathel & Nathel partnership: two operations that take specialty seriously, from grove to shelf.

Carrying the Hazelton name — all the way to the shelf.

The Hazeltons built their reputation over generations — slowly, grove by grove, season by season. Every piece of fruit that leaves Kings River Packing carries that history with it. That's not a burden; it's the standard they hold themselves to, and it's why they're particular about who they work with. When a box arrives late, arrives damaged, or arrives at the wrong temperature, it's not just the wholesaler who bears the consequence — it's the farm name on the label.

Nathel & Nathel understands that weight. It's the same weight our family has operated under for four generations at Hunts Point — the understanding that our name means something, and that the growers and customers who trust it deserve to have it mean something. With Kings River, that alignment runs deep. From first pick to final delivery, we work as one team.