"ALittle Help From My Friends" could serve as a theme song for two snack food companies in the Pacific Northwest, where a spirit of cooperation tends to quell competitive urges. Bridgetown Natural Foods in Portland, Ore., is a copacker that bills itself as an innovation and supply-chain partner for early-stage firms in the natural foods space. Eugene, Ore.-based Wildtime Foods specializes in small-batch production of granola, Cereal and trail mix distributed in bulk or single-serve packages under the Grizzlies brand. Both faced capacity constraints when they began working with the Oregon Manufacturing Extension Partnership (www.omep. org). Although facility expansion and site selection were part of the assignment, the help they really needed was something else entirely.
展开▼
