Natural, organic product industry seeks collaboration beyond traditional hotspots
Of all of the nondurable goods markets in Colorado, food manufacturing, according to University of Colorado Boulder’s 2024 Colorado Business Outlook report, is the largest. And in the broader food market, “boutique manufacturers, often specializing in niche natural and organic products,” play a significant role, particularly in the Boulder Valley and parts of Northern Colorado.
The industry “contributes $3.1 billion to the state’s economy and supports approximately 22,150 jobs,” the CU report said.
The natural and organic sector industry “contributes $3.1 billion to the state’s economy and supports approximately 22,150 jobs.”
University of Colorado 2024 Colorado Business Outlook Report
Boulder has long been one of the world’s meccas for the natural-products industry. But as organic food has become more mainstream in recent decades, other hubs have emerged.
In response, natural and organic products industry trade group Naturally Boulder stepped outside its traditional stomping grounds in the shadow of the Flatirons this year to host its annual Spring Fling Gala at the CSU Spur complex in Denver.
Naturally Boulder’s leadership has prioritized forging connections between those nodes across Colorado. The organic food ecosystem “is expanding,” Naturally Boulder executive director Kristine Carey told BizWest in an interview last year conducted soon after she was hired to helm the trade group. Growth is “coming out (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.”
Manufacturers of meat substitutes and plant-based proteins have emerged as investor darlings in recent years, garnering sky-high valuations and establishing large production facilities.
Emergy Inc., the Boulder-based company that does business as Meati Foods, has raised more than $100 million over the past several years and has built a 100,000-square-foot production facility in Thornton that the company has dubbed its “mega ranch” to make its mushroom-based whole-food proteins.
Across the industry, “manufacturers of plant-based proteins experienced some layoffs” since 2022, according to the CU report, and Meati, which has had three recent rounds of job cuts, was not spared.