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The Roseburg News Review---December 10, 2006
Under an innovative new General Manager, Umpqua Indian Foods has effectively identified its best marketing niche— gourmet foods, quadrupled its production capacity by purchasing $300,000 packaging machine, become a national company and increased its staff by almost five times.
By Paul Craig
For eight years Umpqua Indian Foods has sold its beef jerky and other products on a small scale within the state.
That last part — selling only on a small scale within the state — has now changed, following a two-year re-branding effort that is paying off.
"Truly, in the last three to five months, we are now shipping across the U.S.," said Don Ohland, company general manager.
Umpqua Indian Foods can now be found in higher-end stores in California, Florida and Ohio.
It is also getting a test run with Harry & David, the nationally known direct marketing and E-commerce Company based in Medford.
Ohland expects Umpqua Indian Foods to get full distribution into Harry & David's more than 130 retail shops by the first quarter of 2007.
"We're pretty proud that once the product is slotted, the product does really well," he said.
Umpqua Indian Foods will also be expanding within Douglas County. The company, owned by the Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians, will move into Roseburg within the next few years.
The company's main product is beef jerky.
Getting it sold in gourmet foods stores required more than just producing gourmet jerky. Umpqua Indian Foods has always done that
.It just hasn't always presented itself in a gourmet way.
Its products were sold mostly in "tourist-type stores," Ohland said. The company had become stagnant.
It needed a new look, feel and direction. That's why Ohland was brought in two years ago.
"We really kind of refocused our attention," he said.
GOURMET NICHE
Ohland previously worked as national sales manager for Nature's Way Products. He moved from California to Oregon with the company.
Don Ohland said the job with Umpqua Indian Foods was presented to him and he viewed it as "a fun, exciting challenge."
"He's really made a big difference in the company," said Penny Wilson, national sales account manager for Umpqua Indian Foods.
Ohland started with the packaging. Individual pieces of jerky had been packaged in vacuum sealed plastic wrappers, topped with a bland-colored label.
It wasn't terribly appealing.
"It wasn't really telling the story to the consumer," Ohland said.
That story, he said, is that the product inside is of the highest quality.
The staff updated the logo. They created a sleek black re-sealable package filled with jerky.
With the aesthetics taken care of, production capacity had to be ramped up.
The tribe made a major investment in the operation, purchasing a $300,000 packaging machine in 2005.
That immediately allowed production to quadruple. A new high-capacity oven and label machine were also purchased.
The production was in place to meet increased demands. The sales staff began working to get their products placed in new venues.
The goal wasn't to get into as many stores as possible, however, or get placed in national mass merchants.
It was more important to identify a niche and get the product in places that could meet it.
That niche is gourmet foods.
Umpqua Indian Foods uses choice or better pectoral meat, the most expensive used in the meat snacks industry, Ohland said. It makes for a more moist and tender product, he said.
Even with new, high-tech equipment, much of the cutting and brining for the products are still done by hand. Seasonings are made one batch at a time, which preserves the gourmet flavor the company strives for, Ohland said.
Merchants started taking notice. In fact, a flurry of new accounts took notice all at once.
There were days during the last several months where multiple pallets were stacked with merchandise more than six feet high on Canyonville's Main Street sidewalk.
It created a stir with passing residents, as the company was shipping its products out across the country.
Umpqua Indian Foods gained new customers with Made in Oregon and Market of Choice in Oregon, Sweet Bay Supermarket in Florida, Flower Factory in Ohio and Beverages & More in California.
"Some of these accounts took us months and months to land," Ohland said.
ROSEBURG EXPANSION
The company will continue looking to expand into more gourmet food shops and sporting goods stores with its jerky products.
It is also continuing to expand what it offers.
Gift basket business has been growing exponentially, with themed offerings filled with meats, cheeses and items for fishermen or golfers, for example.
Umpqua Indian Foods' Web site has been rebuilt from scratch and the company introduced its first catalog last year.
It's line of University of Oregon and Oregon State University items, originally created solely for gift baskets, have spawned unique lines of belt buckles, glassware and a variety of other merchandise
.The biggest expansion is still yet to come. The company is planning a major move into Roseburg. Umpqua Indian Foods will take over the space previously occupied by the Surplus Center on Spruce Street.
Not only will the company's production expand there — while the Canyonville production facility remains open — but the plan is to also include an upscale food store.
Ohland said the company hopes to sell gourmet food items and incorporate a coffee shop, deli and specialty butcher with the operation, as well as a kitchen equipped for wine tastings and events featuring guest chefs.
It's only in the conceptual stages currently, Ohland said, as officials are meeting with architects to discuss plans.
It's still got the staff excited, as they are already in tight quarters in two Canyonville locations less than a block from each other.
It's also quite a vision for long-time employees who remember when the business was only in one Canyonville building.
"We used to stand in closets, in hallways, whatever we had to do," said Sher Wilson, national accounts manager.
Wilson started with the company in 1995. Since then, the number of Umpqua Indian Foods employees has more than quadrupled to 18.
With the new Roseburg facility, that number will continue to grow, Ohland said.
The tribe purchased the business, originally a butcher operation that made some jerky called ParkCo.-Oregon Gourmet, in 1998.
Since then, the tribe has made substantial investments in growing the business. Those investments, Ohland said, will continue to pay off.
"There's plenty of business out there for us to go after," he said.