Mark's Notebook

Amy's Kitchen to head north

San Francisco Chronicle

California loses part of organic food firm to Medford, Ore.

David R. Baker

Amy's Kitchen, a Santa Rosa company famous for its frozen vegetarian foods, will build a manufacturing plant in Oregon, despite Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's efforts to keep all the firm's operations in California.

The company, which has been hunting for room to expand, will open a new plant in Medford while keeping its headquarters in Santa Rosa, one of the firm's founders said Tuesday.

Andy Berliner, who founded the company with his wife, Rachel, in 1987, said that while California has recently improved its business climate, Amy's will save about $1 million a year by expanding in Oregon instead of California.

"It surprised us ... how business-friendly other states are, how much they place job retention at the top of their priorities," he said. "There's an attempt to rekindle that spirit here in California, but I think it had been largely forgotten."

A Schwarzenegger spokesman said the governor is pleased that Amy's won't leave the state altogether. But he said the company's expansion northward shows that California's business environment still needs work.

"It's a mixed bag," said spokesman Vince Sollitto. "They're just not going to add any jobs here until we make more progress."

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/12/01/BUG27A480V1.DTL

Amy's Kitchen: http://amyskitchen.com/

Mark says:

Mary and I really like Amy's gluten-free offerings. Their vegetarian enchiladas and gluten-free macaroni and cheese are among our favorites.

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Last updated Tuesday 13 May 2008