While companies like General Motors, Nortel, and Sun Microsystems cut staff in hopes of weathering this recession, hemp food maker Manitoba Harvest seems relatively certain that they’ll not just be fine, but enjoy continued growth. In the process of moving their operations into a larger, more technologically advanced facility, the company has just hired a new plant manager to, well, manage it. As the NPI Center reports:
The market demand for hemp products in North America is expanding rapidly and industry leader Manitoba Harvest Hemp Foods & Oils is staying ahead of the curve by expanding their operations and hiring experts to bolster their team. The company has announced that they have hired Tom Greaves as their new Plant Manager. The new hiring comes at a critical time for Manitoba Harvest (www.manitobaharvest.com), as the hemp foods pioneer is in the process of moving to their new state-of-the-art organic facility in Winnipeg. The 20,000 sq. ft. food processing facility on Eagle Drive will increase their production capacity by more than 500%.
Over the last few years, the company has seen considerable growth. In fact, between 2002-2007, they grew 453%. Nevertheless, there is still cause to be wonder because hemp foods are still largely luxury items. The fact of the matter is that they are not produced (either grown or manufactured) on a level that is sufficient to competitively price them against more mainstream whole foods.
Of course, Manitoba Harvest would have pursued this new facility before the economy imploded, and they would obviously need a new plant manager to run it. So they can’t be accused of financial or managerial negligence by any stretch. So let’s hope that this new facility allows them to bring down processing costs enough that Manitoba Harvest can pass those savings on to consumers. That way, they can thereby stimulate enough of a market demand for hemp products that they’ll continue to reach growth projections despite the current economic climate.