o WHAT: Vancouver-based manufacturer and marketer of vitamins and dietary supplements.
o EMPLOYEES: Nearly 500.
o OWNERS/FOUNDERS: Kate Jones, president; Marty Rifkin, chief executive officer.
o WHERE: 6350 N.E. Campus Drive, Vancouver.
o WHAT’S NEW: The company recently purchased a 200,000-square-foot Ridgefield warehouse for manufacturing and distributing products.
o ON THE WEB: http://www.nwnaturalproducts.com.
Vancouver’s Northwest Natural Products is about to exercise its muscle in the growing vitamin industry by moving its manufacturing and distribution departments to a huge Ridgefield warehouse near Interstate 5.
The 25-year-old company has purchased the former U.S. Foodservice facility for $7.5 million. Northwest Natural Products, among the first to introduce gummy vitamins, plans to transfer about 185 production and shipping workers from Vancouver to the 200,000-square-foot Ridgefield building, which is on 4 acres just west of I-5.
o WHAT: Vancouver-based manufacturer and marketer of vitamins and dietary supplements.
o EMPLOYEES: Nearly 500.
o OWNERS/FOUNDERS: Kate Jones, president; Marty Rifkin, chief executive officer.
o WHERE: 6350 N.E. Campus Drive, Vancouver.
o WHAT'S NEW: The company recently purchased a 200,000-square-foot Ridgefield warehouse for manufacturing and distributing products.
o ON THE WEB:http://www.nwnaturalproducts.com.
“We’ll continue the transfer through the end of the year,” said Kate Jones, president of Northwest Natural Products, which she owns with her husband Marty Rifkin, chief executive officer.
But Jones said the company does not expect to abandon its six-building Vancouver headquarters at 6350 N.E. Campus Drive, near Fort Vancouver High School.
“We’ll maintain our sales, marketing and research and development teams at the Vancouver campus,” she said.
The company employs nearly 500 people in a range of positions, from production workers to certified food technologists.
In addition to the Ridgefield site’s access to a nearly completed $23 million freeway interchange, the warehouse space will allow Northwest Natural Products to more than double its manufacturing capacity and step up production of its newest product, fiber gummies for adults, Jones said.
She expects the product to boost company sales by double digits in 2011.
Within nine months of its release, the fiber supplement became the company’s second-best-selling product, Jones said. It competes with familiar fiber drinks such as Metamucil and Konsyl.
Jones would not disclose sales figures for her private company, and declined to comment on an estimate by business information publisher Hoovers.com that Northwest Natural Products annually clears between $60 million and $100 million in sales.
If accurate, that makes the company a major player in an industry that has continued to attract customers, despite dwindling demand for other consumer products.
Market growth
According to the Denver-based Nutrition Business Journal, today’s consumers — especially baby-boomers — view vitamins and dietary supplements as preventative health care. Journal researchers expect nationwide consumer sales of all dietary supplements to grow to $28.5 billion in 2010, a 6 percent increase over 2009 sales.
Even cash-strapped consumers believe vitamins present an affordable way to stay healthy, said Judy Blatman, a senior vice president with the Council for Responsible Nutrition, based in Washington, D.C.
“As consumers look to more well-care versus sick-care options, supplements like vitamin D and omega-3 fish oil are experiencing growth, along with other products, including multi-vitamins, vitamins E and C, and calcium,” she said.
Aside from its larger production space, the Ridgefield site also offers convenient access to send shipments north and south on I-5, due to construction of the new state Highway 501 overpass. That project, expected to wrap up this year, includes new freeway on- and offramps.
“The interchange was actually a key factor in selecting the site,” Jones said.
Jones also credited falling commercial real estate values for creating an opportunity for her company to expand.
In 2007, the Ridgefield site’s former owner, U.S. Foodservice, marketed the building for $15.5 million. Northwest Natural Products paid less than half that in August. The savings enabled the company to invest another $2 million in site improvements.
“We’re very happy with what we paid for the building,” Jones said. “It will significantly increase our capacity and improve our work flow.”
Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story has been changed to reflect a correction.
