This story is part of our October 2025 issue. To read the print version, click here.

Jacqueline, Allison and Elaine Taylor have fond memories of growing up on their parents’ 109-year-old plum farm in Sutter County. Their parents, Richard and Mona, started them young, having them pack peaches at farmers markets as toddlers and as children, picking the sun-drenched plums during harvest from their 2,500-acre orchard.

“We used to wake up at 5 a.m. and we would go with him over to the ranch, and we would work there,” Jacqueline says. They remember the beauty of the farm, especially in spring. “All the mustard fields and cover crops were in bloom, and then it’s just so lovely — all the prunes and the neighboring orchards, like almonds and peaches,” says Allison.

As girls, they traveled with their father to Asia as he expanded Taylor Brothers Farms’ organic prune business. All this family immersion laid the groundwork for when they decided to branch out and form their own plum-related company Le Prunier.

Related: From Small Prune Farm to Global Enterprise

Richard tells the story of how Jacqueline, who was studying science at UCLA, came to him one day and sat cross-legged on the floor, in front of his favorite chair, to tell him she and her sisters wanted to start a skincare line based on the health benefits of their luscious purple-red plums.

“It made sense, if the dried plum does contain so many benefits, truly rich in antioxidants and polyphenols and all these great things, wouldn’t the same hold true for byproducts of the dried plum?” says Jacqueline, who is head of the research and development arm of Le Prunier.

Their father told them sternly he’d support them, but only if they committed to their plan long term. And they did. “That’s the moment that I sat down, really did a business plan and said, ‘I think this could be very viable as a business. I understand it’s a byproduct, but it’s frankly a hidden diamond in the rough that we’re really not utilizing,’” Jacqueline says of the company’s 2018 launch.

They began making plum oil from the discarded pit of the plum — basically, farm waste.

“The seed is essentially cracked. Then in the extracted kernels, we cold-press those through a specific type of press we have on the farm, which we kind of keep proprietary, and then it goes through a triple-pressed machine, and you have this lovely, gorgeous oil at the very end,” Allison says.

The Taylor sisters are especially proud of their product, whose sole ingredient is plum oil with no added ingredients. Allison took on the marketing side of the business, experimenting with different packaging. The Le Prunier box has an artistic flowering image reminiscent of ikebana on it, the Japanese art of floral design.

“I thought, you know, there’s an opportunity here for us to tell the story and build a brand,” Allison says. Le Prunier’s website showcases their story beautifully, opening with a four-minute video of the Taylor sisters telling the history of their family farm and walking through the plum orchards. One can’t imagine better brand officers than these three attractive young women who grew up on a plum farm.

They started selling their product at trade shows, such as the Indie Beauty Expo in New York City, in 2017. But their big break came in 2020, when a makeup artist for Chrissy Teigen gave the model (and wife of singer John Legend) a vial of Le Prunier. When Teigen gushed about it on her Instagram account, there were suddenly 30,000 back orders for Le Prunier plum oil (which Forbes wrote about). That rocketed the business into high gear.

“It’s anti-aging. … You can use it on your hair, skin, nails; very rich in antioxidants, polyphenols, fatty acids. It’s really gentle for all skin types. It’s recognized by the National Eczema Association as well,” Allison says.

Elaine, the youngest, is in charge of operations. Besides the U.S., Le Prunier is also marketed in the United Kingdom, Europe and South Korea, where the plum is revered as a superfruit.

Le Prunier continues to branch out with new products, such as their SPF cream, which got an Oprah Beauty O-Ward. “We’ve been really lucky and blessed to have great retailers and just some strong names help bolster the brand,” says Allison.

Jacqueline is a mother with three children, Elaine has one child and another on the way, and Allison just got married in September. They live in different parts of the U.S. but return to the farm often, where the business operation is based.

“For the three of us, it’s our heart and soul,” says Allison. “Because there’s so much into this brand, it’s not just a brand. It is the lineage of our family heritage; it’s heritage. There’s so much pride there and passion. It’s just a very meaningful, meaningful thing.”

–

Stay up to date on business in the Capital Region: Subscribe to the Comstock’s newsletter today.