Boulder becoming hub for natural products

BOULDER – It doesn’t take a newcomer long to recognize that Boulder locals value health, fitness and the environment.

This value set is embraced by many local companies, making Boulder an organic and natural product hub.

“For such a small community, that’s significant,´ said Steven Hoffman, board member for Naturally Boulder Inc.

Naturally Boulder, a member-based organization, supports Boulder’s organic and natural products industry through networking and mentoring. The organization hopes to anchor Boulder’s image as the epicenter of the industry throughout the country and the world.

“It has a reputation worldwide, particularly in Japan and Asia,” Hoffman said. Boulder’s reputation as a natural products powerhouse springs from the crowd of natural and organic companies, products and services originating from the area.

“Many sell nationally and internationally, and when we go to trade shows and conferences all around the world … Boulder is certainly known as a center,” Hoffman said.

Hoffman, also the managing director of The Organic Center – a nonprofit research center that examines the science behind the importance of organics, such as the nutritional superiority of organic food – moved to Boulder because of the area’s reputation and the support systems.

“We decided to move the organization to Boulder so we could be more in touch with the organic market place and the organic consumer,” Hoffman said.

Translating Boulder’s reputation for natural products into a dollar figure is tricky, said Frances Draper, executive director of Boulder’s economic council and a Naturally Boulder board member. Natural and organic products span many sectors, such as agriculture, clothing, food and beverages and services, making these figures difficult to measure.

“There is no classification that says natural or organic,” Draper said, and more research is needed to determine the Boulder area’s industry impact.

Draper said natural and organic products are an important part of the local economy.

“There’s a lot of interest in the industry. There are a lot of companies here. There are a lot of conferences that come here. All those are good economic boosts to the economy,” Draper said. She credits Boulder’s strong industry standing to an early start and a great talent pool.

“Part of it has to do with the fact that Celestial Seasonings started here. White Wave started here. It’s a university town, and Naropa is here. People attracted to a natural lifestyle were attracted to here back when it wasn’t the thing to do,” Draper said.

This core group attracted like-minded companies, fostering an organic and natural products industry cluster.

To get a handle on what the natural products industry means to Boulder, Naturally Boulder and the University of Colorado’s Deming Center for Entrepreneurship teamed up to conduct the Boulder Natural Business Community Audit.

“We conducted this survey to get the size, shape and make of natural products in the Boulder area,´ said Aleana Sutton, survey administrator, co-author and graduate student in the business school at the University of Colorado.

Survey administrators collected information such as company origin, product information, employee count, sales information and future plans for approximately 400 local, natural or organic businesses, such as Celestial Seasonings, Rudi’s Organic Bakery, Justin’s Nut Butter and Organic Vintners.

Survey findings will be released in October at the Naturally Boulder Days conference, Sutton said, and will include an analysis of trends and common themes.

“Boulder has been and continues to be the Mecca of the natural products industry,” Sutton said.

The industry is working well for Boulder-based Eco-Products, which supplies 100 percent compostable disposable products, such as plates and utensils.

“We’re seeing tremendous growth in that area,´ said Eco-Products marketing director Steve Kurowski, as companies large and small strive to use petroleum-free products and meet zero-waste goals.

“We have everything from Bonnaroo Music Festival and ESPN X-Games, to Folsom Street Coffee,” Kurowski said, something he feels is driven by younger consumers pushing against a U.S. throw-away culture and looking for a more responsible alternative. Eco-Products supplied the recent Democratic National Convention with environmentally sustainable, disposable products.

Eco-Products founder Steve Savage sees an opportunity for tremendous growth in natural products, such as disposables. While organics hit their stride a few years ago, natural products are just starting to jump, he said.

“Natural products have really taken off in the last couple of years as people realize how toxic some products are,” Savage said, and he can back it up with numbers.

“We’ve gone from six to 60 employees in three years, and we anticipate to have 120 employees by this time next year,” Savage said. Eco-Products distributes biodegradable products nationally. Last year’s sales hit $9 million, Savage said, and next year’s sales are expected to increase to $100 million.

Rudi’s Organic Bakery, making organic bread in Boulder for almost two decades, is also rapidly becoming a national brand, said Doug Radi, vice president of marketing for Rudi’s.

“It was founded on the premise that there was a better way to make bread. A preservative-, chemical-free bread,” Radi said. “Really we’ve become much larger than that story. We are the largest certified organic bread maker in the U.S.”

Rudi’s grew 20 percent in recent years, a figure similar to the growth of the organic market in general. Rudi’s baked goods now sell strongly in Colorado, the Northeast U.S., Northern California and the Pacific Northwest.

“I think we’re in a health and wellness revolution, and about one-third of the country is interested in making healthy choices,” and actively pursuing that with their consumer dollar, Radi said, leaving a lot of homes untapped by Rudi’s baked goods. Radi expects continued growth for the bakery at 18 percent to 20 percent, and Boulder is a good place to be.

“You have some of the greatest pioneers in the industry, great knowledge and motivated individuals, and they’ve created tremendous excitement among the rest of us,” Radi said. “We’re on a fun run, and it’s exciting to be in the industry.”

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