Naturally Boulder, Colorado Food Works merge, rebrand as Naturally Colorado

BOULDER — In keeping with recent efforts to expand its reach beyond its Boulder backyard, Naturally Boulder is merging with Denver-based Colorado Food Works and rebranding as Naturally Colorado. 

The combined natural and organic products industry trade group and startup-support organization will serve the entirety of Colorado. 

“By saying, ‘We’re Naturally Colorado,’ we are able to say that we are here for everyone in Colorado,” Naturally Colorado executive director Kristine Carey told BizWest, noting that she would often get questions from would-be Naturally Boulder members about whether only Boulder-based companies could join. (No, despite the name, the trade group was not exclusively for Boulder-area businesses).

“We’re excited to bring together our two organizations,” Colorado Food Works president Sari Kimbell said in a prepared statement. “We began in 2016 to replicate what Naturally Boulder was already accomplishing. We’ve grown to a network of 200 entrepreneurs across the Front Range, so it makes sense that we would join forces.”

Also a food-and-beverage-industry trade group, CFW “is actually very similar to Naturally Boulder in what they do, but for businesses that are in Denver,” Carey said. But unlike Naturally Boulder, CFW did not focus specifically on natural and organic food companies. Also, CFW members were exclusively “small startups” in the food and beverage industry, while Naturally Boulder members included companies that ranged from “the idea stage all the way to (firms with) $100 million-plus” in annual sales, she said.

Carey, who was hired by the nearly 20-year-old Naturally Boulder last summer, spent much of her first year on efforts on broadening the organization’s geographic scope.

“When I came on, it was definitely …to help (with) expansion and make that really happen,” she said. For years, Naturally Boulder “has wanted to open our doors and be where our members and potential members are,” even if that’s not in or around Boulder. 

The organic food ecosystem “is expanding,” Carey told BizWest when she was hired last July. Growth is “coming out (of Colorado State University) in Fort Collins, out of the Pueblo Food Project, out of the CSU Spur in Denver; there’s a lot of stuff happening on the Western Slope with business incubators.”

Under the new Naturally Colorado banner, the organization said it will continue hosting its annual events such as Pitch Slam and Spring Fling, “while introducing new programs tailored to different regions and sectors across the state,” the group said in a news release.

Partnerships with the CSU Spur and Food Innovation Center in Denver and with retailers such as Lucky’s Market, Kroger, Natural Grocers, Whole Foods are also expected to be extended.

Naturally Colorado will continue to operate with Naturally Boulder’s small team of staff: Carey and community-engagement manager Taylor Dewitt.

But the combined organization is expanding its board of directors to include several CFW board members to provide for “more ability and manpower to get things accomplished,” Carey said. CFW’s former leader Kimbell is expected to apply for a seat on the combined entity’s board. 

Does increased focus on the rest of the state mean that Boulder’s prestige as one of the world’s natural and organic meccas is waning? Not necessarily, Naturally Colorado leaders say.

“Boulder is where new companies challenge the system and bring new ideas and innovations to industry,” Naturally Colorado board chairman Brandon Hernandez said in a statement. “Colorado is shining brightly with amazing, better-for-you businesses sprouting up, and we can share our communities’ wealth of knowledge, mentorship, and collaborative mindset — and measure success not just by financial gain, but also by conscious business practices that positively impact the state.” 

Boulder is still “truly the center” of Colorado’s natural and organic products universe, but “there really is an energy that’s happening” beyond city limits, Carey said. “We want to make sure we’re not being exclusive by saying we’re for Boulder; we want to be inclusive in saying that we’re for the state.”