While large companies often have shareholders and untold numbers of employees to satisfy, family businesses can maneuver more deftly and swiftly, powering through as best they can.

At 11 years old, Yolanda Vega started selling buñuelos and other local foods at street festivals around Michoacán. When she relocated to Sacramento in 1996, she did the same thing, driving around town and growing her clientele.

A latex unicorn mask hangs on the back wall near the window of Katherine Bardis-Miry and Rachel Bardis’ shared office. 

“We’re kind of weird,” Katherine laughs.

The company recently broke ground on a new Woodland facility that will double its warehouse size and serve as a community hub at the intersections of gourmet food, farm to fork and pollinator support.

During summer months, 6-year-old Hazel keeps busy playing in the office of Huston Textile Company. It’s fitting that she should feel at home here — she is, after all, the inspiration for her parents’ textile milling business.

When Art Savage and his partners purchased a Minor-League Baseball team and moved it to a new stadium in West Sacramento in 2000, his wife, Susan Savage, never imagined that one day she would own and operate the Sacramento River Cats.

Suburban father Mike Polis makes an unlikely rancher, but he’s gained traction with his passion project, building a small family farm catering to a niche Capital Region market.