Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutEDL Wild Harvest Briefing Paper BRIEFING PAPER B&B Herbal Futures dba Oregon’s Wild Harvest Request for Deschutes County Economic Development Fund Company Request: $50,000 EDCO Recommendation: $50,000 Proposed Job Creation within 24 months of December 24, 2013: 25 new employees Average Pay for New Employees (all positions, excluding commissions): $41,750 Industry: Bioscience, Consumer Goods, Food Products, Website: www.oregonswildharvest.com Company Background: Oregon’s Wild Harvest is a certified organic herbal supplement manufacturer selling products through health food stores, healthcare professionals and online direct to its growing customer base. This family-owned company has been farming and processing herbs for over 20 years, and are now moving their operations and production facilities from Sandy, Oregon to an expanded space in Redmond to keep up with the growing market demands for premium herbal supplements. The husband and wife team, President and Secretary respectively, have also recently purchased two farms in the Culver area. A majority of their raw materials are sourced through these and other farms located near Sandy some of which they also own and operate (either personally or thru closely-held subsidiary companies), in order to help control the quality of their raw materials. The firm has purchased the former Rocky Mountain Products building in east Redmond and is completing minor repairs and improvements with the expectation full occupancy sometime in mid-October. Oregon’s Wild Harvest will move its entire business operations, manufacturing facility and equipment to the new location and expects to acquire two new processing units for their capsule production needs. If awarded, the funds from the Deschutes County Forgivable Loan Fund will be used to purchase the necessary equipment to help increase production output and facility build-out, and thereby increase inventory and sales capacity. The company will need to hire approximately 25-35 positions over the next 18-24 months and have committed to hiring (or transferring from Sandy) 25 within 24 months of the application date (July 24, 2014) under the program. New employment will include positions at the administrative, production, shipping and receiving, quality control, sales and marketing, customer service, middle and executive management levels. The aggregated average wage for all projected hires is $41,750. Oregon’s Wild Harvest provides benefits to their employees – in addition to average wages noted above – including: medical, dental, 401K, profit sharing, holiday and vacation pay. In an effort to recruit the company, EDCO and REDI prepared proposals to the company that included state and local incentives. During the company’s relocation decision-making process this summer (when the application was made), the company factored local support in the form of enterprise zone benefits and a possible award from the Deschutes County Economic Development Fund as part of the choice to move to Central Oregon. EDCO Recommendation A due diligence process was completed by the REDI (Redmond Economic Development, Inc.) incentives review committee on September 9, 2014. The participants in the review include Joe Centanni, local CPA in Redmond; Turner Waskom, Sr. Business Lender for Craft 3; Paul Coil, Chief Financial Officer for Central Oregon Truck Company; and Jon Stark, Manager for REDI. After thorough review of the application, review of financial projections historic financials, the committee supported the following recommendation: EDCO is recommending to Deschutes County an award of $50,000 or $2,000 per job created by July 24, 2016 (24 months following the application date). Conditions include: Company employs 25 FTE in Deschutes County by July 24, 2016 and maintains that employment for any 12 month period before July 24, 2017. Company provides quarterly employment updates and the ability to inspect complete financial statements from award date through termination of the yet-to-be executed agreement with Deschutes County. Failure to meet the above provisions would result in partial or full repayment of the loan, with interest.