Joe Kline / The BulletinKizer Couch, right, and his father and partner, Kent — known as The Growler Guys — opened a now 36-tap dispenser station for beer, hard cider, sangria and kombucha tea inside the Stop and Go Shell gas station on U.S. Highway 20 in 2012. Since then, they have opened a growler-fill store in Eugene and several franchises. On Wednesday,The Growler Guys expects to open a franchise in Portland.

After filling growlers in Eugene and Richland, Wash., The Growler Guys have set their sights on Portland.

On Wednesday, Kizer Couch, co-owner of the Bend-based growler fill-station company, expects to open the company’s first Portland location.

“Bend is a limited market,” Couch said. “It’s a smaller town, and by the time we had established ourselves here, a lot of competition came in.”

The Growler Guys and two other Bend companies, Pono Farm & Fine Meats and 10 Barrel Brewing Co., plan to be the latest Central Oregon businesses to branch out into the Portland market.

While other companies that started in Bend, such as Deschutes Brewery and Sisters Coffee Co., have expanded into the Portland area over the years, typically businesses travel in the opposite direction, said Carolyn Eagan, the city of Bend business advocate.

Companies tend to start and grow in Portland and then open a satellite office or relocate to Bend after they get established, Eagan said.

“It’s like the first time the younger sibling beats the older sibling in chess,” Eagan said. “It’s a victory for us as the smaller city. It shows we have businesses that are strong enough and have enough market share that they can expand into Portland.”

When Central Oregon companies open additional locations outside of the region, it brings wealth back in, said Roger Lee, executive director of Economic Development for Central Oregon.

“Even though the majority of jobs might be in another place, it still requires support from the headquarters location,” Lee said.

Steve Curley, director of the Small Business Development Center at Central Oregon Community College, agreed. Additionally, he said, opening a satellite location in Portland brings new money into the parent company’s community instead of circulating the same money among local businesses.

When local companies reach the point where they’ve validated their product and market, Curley said, they either have to diversify their product lineup or customer base to grow.

“Portland is a convenient market,” Curley said. “It’s not that far away and has a much larger population base.”

Opening a second location in the same city is another way to increase customers, as well as provide additional convenience to current customers, he said. But it’s a small-growth strategy, he said. Companies need to be sure they have enough potential customers in the area to support the additional expense of the second location and still be profitable.

“This works best for restaurants that have maxed out the capacity of their current location,” he said, referring to Bend restaurants Hola! and Croutons.

The Growler Guys tested the waters by opening a franchise on Bend’s west side before expanding outside of the region.

The biggest benefit to expanding outside of Bend is getting a whole new customer base, Couch said. The Portland store will be the fifth Growler Guys location and the company’s third franchise. Additional franchises are planned in Astoria, Boise, Idaho, and Washington.

“Pretty much from the beginning, we knew we wanted to open in Portland because of the strong beer culture,” Couch said.

But Couch was waiting for the right people to take on a Growler Guys franchise because, he said, he was unfamiliar with Portland.

“You could have 15 Grower Guys locations in the Portland area, and each one should be locally owned and operated so people understand the area that is surrounding them and the people that they deal with,” he said.

The hardest part about opening fill stations outside of Bend is finding the right locations and networking with the right people, he said.

“It takes a lot more research and time spent out on the ground in new locations,” he said. “That’s the great thing about the franchise. The franchise owners are already there in the community.”

Branching out into another city also exposes new customers to the culture of the parent company, said Justin Durham, CEO of Sisters Coffee Co., which opened a coffeehouse in Portland’s Pearl District in April 2011.

“It’s added significant revenue for our company and has increased our brand awareness in the region,” Durham said.

The expansion also served another goal: to promote Sisters and educate the Portland area about the Sisters Rodeo, the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show and other events.

Sisters Coffee Co. started a weekly Portland delivery route on Wednesday, delivering ground coffee at seven to 10 stops throughout the city.

Bend beer maker Garrett Wales said he and his partners at 10 Barrel Brewing Co. saw Portland as the next logical step for their brewery.

First, however, came Boise. The company opened in Idaho’s capital in April 2013 to get into that city’s craft-beer scene early. Now it plans to tackle Portland — a more challenging and established market.

“The Portland market has been a huge market for us since we started selling packaged beer there,” he said. “We’ve built a brand there. We’re recognized by a lot of people, and we have great support and followers.”

The brewery announced plans to open a Portland location in April, and Wales expects the brewpub and brew house in the Pearl District to be open mid-August.

“I hope with the additional exposure and easier access to our brand in general, it will prove to be a huge supporting asset for our distribution and off-premise sales,” he said.

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rrees@bendbulletin.com