Local Loan Recipients: Pacific Northwest

Whole Foods Market's Pacific Northwest Region includes Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia.

Townshend's Tea Company

Portland, Oregon

Matt Thomas opened his first Townshend’s Tea Company teahouse in Portland in April 2006. In January 2008, he opened an additional teahouse in Bend, Oregon. With the success of the two teahouses, he has been able to focus on additional projects, namely wholesaling his tea to retailers such as Whole Foods Market. Most recently he’s started to sell kombucha, named Brew Dr. Kombucha. Current flavors are Nutritonic, Superberry, White Rose, and Clear Mind. Matt will be using the loan to expand distribution of Brew Dr. Kombucha, including providing our Pacific Northwest stores with kombucha in kegs.

Read more about Townshend's on our blog.

Ruby Jewel Treats

Portland, Oregon

Lisa Herlinger Esco started Ruby Jewel Treats in April 2004 by selling her ice cream sandwiches, handmade from locally-sourced ingredients, at the local farmers market in Portland. With her success there, she quickly realized the potential of the product, and later that year she even beat almost 100 fellow competitors to win the American Food Fight Portland Style competition sponsored by Oregon State University and the Oregon Department of Agriculture. Since then the company’s success has continued to grow: after just five years, Ruby Jewel has retail distribution throughout the West Coast and many other parts of the country.

Lisa will be using her loan to build a larger, more energy-efficient freezer for ice cream sandwich storage.

Read more about Lisa and Ruby Jewel on the Whole Story blog.