Broken Top Brands' Affton Coffelt shows one of the company's finished candles.

In Central Oregon, the makers of packaged products are forming a partnership that cultivates an atmosphere of support and camaraderie.

They’re calling themselves Cultivate Bend. As a group of makers using natural ingredients, the goal is to share information about the how-tos of being a startup business focused on packaged products. Finding the best channels for manufacturing, distribution, shipping, packaging and labeling rules and regulations are all important topics to share.

With Central Oregon three hours from any major metropolitan area, there’s a lot of trial and error that goes into logistics, said Paul Evers, co-founder and CEO of Riff, a Bend cold brew coffee company.

At a recent inaugural meeting of Cultivate Bend, about 135 natural product manufacturers gathered to meet each other, Evers said. The group has about 65 members since it was launched several weeks ago.

“The turnout we had from our launch event demonstrated to us that the need for a group focused specifically on natural products in Central Oregon is real,” Evers said. “It’s a mutual benefit trade organization for the packaged goods industry in Central Oregon.”

It’s a space Evers is comfortable with as a former founder of Crux Fermentation Project and now Riff, which is best known for its certified carbon neutral energy drink from coffee beans. He has spent three decades with packaged natural food products.

The group has organized a nine-member board of directors who include the co-founder of Picky Bars and a natural products broker who will lead the group, Evers said.

In the Bend-Redmond area, food product manufacturing employs about 612 people, according to the Oregon Employment Department. Statewide, that number swells to 28,569 people employed in this segment of the market.

One of the new member companies is Broken Top Brands, which has made candles and soaps in Bend for the past eight years. Affton Coffelt, company founder, said an organization like Cultivate Bend supports and grows startups.

This kind of support helps the team at Broken Top Brands stay connected with the industry, Coffelt said.

“Organizations like this provide my team with ongoing support in their roles and help the stay connected to industry insights, fellow colleagues locally in the same fields of work and help foster growth in their positions,” Coffelt said. “It’s also often a place for them to feel heard and connected with any struggles/wins they might be facing. We love to network.”

Part of the ecosystem

Starting up a new consumer products business is challenging, said Michele O’Hara, executive director of Opportunity Knocks, a peer-to-peer mentorship organization in Central Oregon. But when startups are able to share their challenges, they can find solutions from others who have built up their brand.

“Imagine you have a great idea, and a passion for doing something better, or solving a problem, or making the world a better place,” O’Hara said. “Where do you start?

“We all need encouragement along the way. Cultivate Bend is an important part of our ecosystem here in Central Oregon.”

There are other groups in the Central Oregon community, like the Chamber of Commerce or the Bend Outdoor Worx, Technology Association and the Oregon State University Innovation

Co-lab. They all work together to support and build businesses, O’Hara said.

Randi Holm, owner of Holm Made Toffee, a Bend candy company, is not yet part of the group, but intends to join. Even after nearly a decade as a small business owner, Holm said it’s important to connect with other business owners, especially in the packaged goods segment.

There’s regulations and distribution concerns that other businesses don’t face.

“As a small-business owner, you are often the CEO, human resources, customer service and board member,” Holm said. “And at times it can feel very isolating and alone to try to make so many important decisions on your own without any sort of sounding board.

“It’s all on you and it is stressful and exhausting.”

The company was founded in 2007 and is family owned, using locally sourced ingredients from the Pacific Northwest.

With Cultivate Bend, there will be sessions on various segments of the natural products packaged business that can be spotlighted and discussed, Evers said.

The group formerly was known as the Central Oregon Food Cluster, but the pandemic put it on hiatus and now it’s returning but as Cultivate Bend, he said.

“Our objective is to enhance the success rate of businesses out of the Bend area,” Evers said. “We’re trying to short-circuit the process and access resources either regionally or through the connections we’ve made. That could be to the investment community or other connections, but we want to expedite the speed of success.”