Laird Superfood Receives OEDA Business Development Success Award

Laird Superfood Receives the Business Development Success Award Presented by Oregon Economic Development Association

Company-Community Vision and Collaboration Results in Job Growth and Economic Gains

SISTERS, Ore., Oct. 28, 2019 – The vision and collaboration of the town of Sisters, Oregon, with an innovative start-up company in 2015 has led to Laird Superfood today being awarded the Business Development Success award by the Oregon Economic Development Association (OEDA). The award, presented by OEDA at today's 2019 Awards ceremony in Salem Oregon, honors Laird Superfood for expanding its existing business in an effort to create jobs, expand the local tax base and improve the town of Sisters, Oregon community.

Laird Superfood produces a highly popular assortment of plant-based superfood products, which are manufactured and distributed from its headquarters in Sisters, Oregon. The company is this year's fastest-growing manufacturer in the tri-county region of Crook, Deschutes and Jefferson. In the past 12 months, Laird Superfood has added 58 employees (210% growth) to meet rising global demand for its line of healthy creamers and assorted plant-based food products.

Since the company's launch in 2015 with just three employees, Laird Superfood now employs over 100 people, occupies a new state-of-the-art 20,000 square-foot campus, and ranks as the town of Sisters’ largest private employer. The company is in the process of breaking ground on a third building and has purchased additional adjacent lots for future expansion, with the vision of increasing employment to 500 within the next five years.

"We are proud to receive this award. From the beginning, it has been our mission to give back to the Sisters community by providing job opportunities and making an economic impact," said Paul Hodge, CEO of Laird Superfood. "We are grateful to Economic Development for Central Oregon (EDCO), which played an instrumental role in bringing Laird Superfood to Sisters. By connecting us with key employee hires, helping to find available land to build our new facility, helping us to secure forgivable loans with the city and county, and leading us through tax incentives, EDCO went above and beyond to support our business. We couldn’t be more pleased with how this award recognizes the original vision has become a reality, and how Laird Superfood will continue to grow hand-in-hand with the town of Sisters."

The criteria for OEDA's Business Development Award:

• Extent of the economic impact on the community such as an increase in the overall tax base, the creation of new jobs, or criteria relevant to the goals of the program.
• Achievement of its stated objective with measurable results.
• Development of strong relationships, with relevant players and widespread community support.
• Innovation, originality and cost-effectiveness.
• Relevance and transferability of elements to other communities

About Laird Superfood

The company was co-founded in 2015 by the world's most prolific big-wave surfer, Laird Hamilton. His passion project to perfect his personal regimen grew into a dynamic, innovative brand with a mission to bring clean, simple, and thoughtfully formulated superfoods to the masses. As one of the fastest-growing companies in the natural foods space, Laird Superfood's offerings are environmentally sustainable, responsibly tested, and made with whole-food ingredients that everyone can feel good about.

SOURCE: Laird Superfood