Future sparkles for Vancouver-based Biokleen

Biokleen’s 25th anniversary theme could have been “Hey, look. We survived.”

Not very catchy, but it would have been post-Great Recession down-to-earth and truthful.

The Vancouver maker of natural ingredients-based cleaning products has something more strategic and bold in mind for its 30th anniversary, about a week away.

A favorable shift in consumer preferences is more responsible for the celebratory plan than the calendar. But Biokleen likes a good party as much as anyone. So for this anniversary year, emboldened company officials are targeting market share, looking at expanding product lines, and beefing up Biokleen’s marketing efforts.

Will that ensure a 30-year milestone to age 60?

“The brand will outlast me,” says Barry Firth, who, as Biokleen’s managing director, is the top executive. “I wouldn’t be surprised if the brand is around 100 years from now.”

That may have come as a pleasant surprise to Firth’s father-in-law, Jim Rimer. According to company lore, Rimer was stirring concoctions with a canoe paddle in his Portland garage in 1989, searching for a more healthful janitorial cleaning product. Rimer, who more than three decades ago was a chemical supply salesman, knew that toxin-rich products dominated the market.

After stumbling with his All Purpose Cleaner 1 (the key ingredients in the solution separated), he developed All Purpose Cleaner 2. It became a hit in the janitorial market, with smaller amounts bottled later for household use.

Rimer’s daughter, Cindy Rimer, joined the company about 20 years ago and is credited with expanding Biokleen’s retailing reach, marketing strategies and product lines. One of her decisions was to add Firth, who had a background in consumer products. Another decision was to marry him, in 2000. They have a daughter and son. Jim Rimer, now 77, mentors the organization.

Biokleen moved from Rimer’s garage to downtown Portland, then to Clackamas, Ore., before arriving in 2003 at an industrial park on Vancouver’s northern edge, attracted there primarily because of its affordability. The firm’s 16,000-square-foot home is at 5408 N.E. 88th St., where it counts nLIGHT, the publicly traded laser manufacturer, among its neighbors.

One day last week, about a half-dozen employees oversaw assembly line production of 32-ounce bottles of one of Biokleen’s best-selling products, Bac-Out Stain and Odor Remover.

Three tanks, each capable of holding up to 3,000 gallons of natural ingredients, loomed over the bottling and labeling machine, with most of the workers consumed with boxing the bottles.

About 15 years ago, Biokleen could expect to produce approximately 600 bottles of its products a day. Now, working with faster machinery, that’s grown to 5,000 bottles a day.

Soon, that kind of production won’t be enough.

The company expects to move to a larger production facility in Clark County sometime this year, Firth says. An East Coast warehouse will be leased this year to ease product delivery. Also this year, it will add at least three products to its existing line of 50 cleaners. Also this year, Target will begin selling three Biokleen products, a potentially lucrative addition to the company’s retailing partners which include Chuck’s Produce, Fred Meyer/Kroger, New Seasons and Whole Foods. While Biokleen sells a Brobdingnagian 150-ounce bottle of laundry liquid, it has not yet broken through to Costco or similar warehouse retailers.

About 90 percent of Biokleen’s sales are through traditional retailers, but Firth says online sales, particularly through Amazon, will continue to grow.

“We’re independently owned and operated, we have a sustainable-products-only facility,” Firth says. “So that’s all we do. We don’t have, you know, a toxic line that’s cheaper.”

But the company clearly believes it can compete, in large part because of shifting consumer buying habits.

“Our consumers typically range from 19 to 54 years old with weighting toward the Millennial/GenY and GenX side of the generational range,” Ted Morgan, Biokleen’s marketing director, said in an email interview. “The Millennial consumer and GenX consumer are the greatest drivers in our industry.

“One report found that Millennials are two times more likely to choose organic over baby boomers/Woodstock Generation (30 percent of Millennials vs. 15 percent of boomers). If the data is true, it’s those much-maligned Millennials who are truly trying to save the world.”

A recent Nielsen global online study, meanwhile, found millennials to be the most willing to pay extra for sustainable offerings — almost three out of four respondents in the latest findings, up from approximately half in 2014. The rise in the percentage of respondents aged 15 to 20, also known as Generation Z, who are willing to pay more for products and services that come from companies that are committed to positive social and environmental impact was also strong — up from 55 percent in 2014 to 72 percent in 2015.

With that kind of landscape, it’s not surprising that Biokleen officials believe they’ll benefit.

“Our commitment to sustainable business practices, being transparent and accessible gives us credibility with this skeptical consumer,” Morgan says. “Another reason we’re proud of our 30th anniversary … we know we’ve earned that trust.”

The company devotes about 1 percent of its sales to socially conscious endeavors through its “Clean For Good” program. That effort has supported funneling cleaning products to homeless shelters, planting trees, watershed restoration and renewable energy offsets.

And another thing: Biokleen’s bottles are made from 50 percent recycled plastic. The company’s goal is to convert to using bottles made of 80 percent to 100 percent plastic recovered from the ocean.

“We try to stay true to our values,” Firth says. “We believe in conscious capitalism, so, you know, we’re doing what we believe is the right thing.”

This milestone year, the company will roll out a Clean for Good social media campaign that encourages its customers to nominate someone in their community for recognition, with cash prizes to nonprofits and cleaning supplies to winning participants.

Biokleen has a good story to tell, Firth says, and the “30th anniversary has given us the excuse to go to shout from the mountaintop.”