Amy's Grows

"It's been seven months since Amy's Kitchen began production of its organic frozen food lines on Agate Road in White City.

The center of a high-profile tug-of-war between the governors of California and Oregon, Amy's proved to be the coup of the decade for the region's economic developers.

"Amy's Kitchen was ultimately very big," says Ron Fox, who assumed his post as Southern Oregon Regional Economic Development Inc.'s executive director after the Santa Rosa, Calif., company's local expansion was signed and sealed.

"In its early stages I don't think that it was anticipated to be as large as it's become already. Amy's could still be much larger over time as their markets grow and operations expand."

The latest report to cross Fox's desk shows Amy's Kitchen now employs 450.

"That's a very large single-point addition to the region's employment," Fox says.

The questions become: Who will be Southern Oregon's next Amy's Kitchen, and how long will it take to lure such an employer here?"

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