Abbott Blackstone Co. was founded in 1989 by Kurt Paine. Having worked all of his life in the food business, he had a lot of experience prior to founding Abbott Blackstone. It all started back in the 1970’s, when he worked for one of the first natural food distributors in the U.S. After that he worked for an herb importer, distributor and manufacturer. Kurt then started a successful herb distribution business that he sold several years later. The next few years were spent as a natural foods broker in Northern California and finally 5 years working for a Chinese Importing company in San Francisco. At the end of this, he had a vision for his own company and started Abbott Blackstone. Abbott Blackstone is a family-owned and operated business with Kurt at the helm, his sons Benny and Emanuel and daughter Kathy also work with him in the business. Benny heads up sales and purchasing for natural and organic ingredients, Kathy also handles sales of bulk and natural ingredient while John Salas handles sales of products in cans, jars and drums, as well as IQF items. Emanuel heads up the EU office.