Family-owned company returns to Lodi, plans to expand
Although Martin Nastasia, Sr., founded FermRight Breathing Bungs in the garage of his Lodi home in 1997, he had moved the business to Stockton by the time he passed away in February 2014.
His daughter Rienna immediately took over and brought the company back to Lodi, she said, where she continued making silicone bungs used in wine fermentation barrels under a new name: The All-American Bung Company. “When Dad passed away, I got a lot of offers to sell to China. I refused to sell because one thing that my dad always prided himself on was saying that he could give his family jobs and that (the bung) was made America. That’s what inspired the name,” Rienna said.
Although Rienna ran the company by herself for the first year, she said, her mother Jill joined in 2015 to help with accounting.
“She’s been a huge help through all this. She came in and knew all the books right away because she had 15 years of experience,” Rienna said.
Rienna hired her brother Martin, Jr. to handle manufacturing after he was released from prison in 2016, she said, on the condition that he leave behind his old life of gang activity and drug abuse.
“Dad died while I was in prison and I got my act together. I’ve been clean and sober ever since. It feels good to be a productive member of society, and being there for my family. I wish he could see this” Martin said.
From their garage on South Beckman Street, the Nastasia siblings produce approximately 2,000 bungs each week, Rienna said, with the grape harvest usually making the fall their busiest season.
“I assume this is going to be our busiest year yet. I made a five-year plan, and we actually started out in February busier than we are in the fall,” Rienna said.
Martin can usually make 55 bottom pieces or 32 top pieces in each 10-minute period, he said, using his family’s original three-layered heated mold.
“This thing was in our garage, next to a bunch of old Harley parts. This is the same machine we’ve had since the beginning,” Martin said.
Recently, however, production has slowed down thanks to a bad batch of silicone that does not melt properly, Martin said, causing the pieces to stick to the machine much like what happened on Friday afternoon.
“Normally, I can just open it up and pull the whole thing out. That’s not happening right now. Once it cools down, though, the material should shrink a little and it’ll be easier to get out of there,” Martin said.
Despite difficulties such as bad silicone batches slowing down production, Rienna still enjoys running the company with her brother, and seeing the fruits of their labor at local wineries.
“I’ll visit barrel rooms at local wineries, and I’ll see our bungs in their barrels. Plus, I love being able to say that I’m a bung-maker. How many of those do you know,” Rienna said.
All-American Bung Company regularly delivers bungs to Omega Winery, Rienna said, and Jeremy Wine Company picks their orders up from the garage where the bungs are made. Other clients purchase bungs through distributors, she said, such as Lodi Wine Laboratory down the street.
“It’s nice because I literally walk their order over there. When my daughter was small enough, I’d put their order in her stroller,” Rienna said. “We love our distributors, but I want to put the word out that we’re back in Lodi so that local wineries can pick up their bungs here instead of having to order them,” Rienna said.
Rienna plans to continue expanding the business, she said, adding new bung sizes and eventually relocating the manufacturing process to her own property.
“I also want my 4-year-old daughter to take the reigns one day. I’d like it to stay in the family for generations,” Rienna said.