8
Wednesday, March 3, 2021 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
Sisters company garners national attention
By Bill Bartlett
Correspondent
If you bought shares of
Laird Superfood (Symbol LSF
on NYSE) on September 22
last year, at the opening price
of $22, you could have sold
them the next day for $40.80
and popped some fine cham-
pagne. That was the Initial
Public Offering (IPO) price of
the Sisters plant-based food-
products company which is
frequently a topic of con-
versation in Sisters Country.
The IPO caught the atten-
tion of Barron9s, Forbes, Fox
Business Channel, Market
Watch, The Street, and Yahoo
Finance, among others. The
shares reached a high of
$60.80 since inception. Last
week they traded as high as
$45.65. This is all the more
interesting, considering that
despite its explosive sales
growth, the company had an
operating loss of $8.35 mil-
lion in the first nine months
of 2020 on sales of $18.7
million. Comparable sales in
2019 were $8.9 million.
Prior to its public offering
of 2,650,000 shares, the com-
pany had six rounds of private
funding totaling $51 million.
Its total shares outstanding are
8.87 million, translating to a
market capitalization of $378
million on February 24.
The fast-growing business
currently employs 150 work-
ers. It projects a total work-
force of nearly 500 in the next
three years, as it meets rapidly
expanding demand. The com-
pany claims to exceed mini-
mum hourly wage require-
ments for all workers. Many
in the community originally
embraced Laird9s ambitious
hiring plans, given the lack of
living-wage job opportunities
in Sisters and dependency on
cyclical tourism jobs.
Two-thirds of the jobs are
filled by workers residing out-
side of Sisters, mostly from
Redmond and Bend. Fifty-
five employees list ZIP code
97759 as their residence. Paul
Hodge, CEO, lays the lower
proportion of local hires to the
lack of affordable housing. He
and Paul and Carla Schneider
of Sisters have purchased 31
acres from the Forest Service
about a quarter-mile from
the Laird campus and intend
to develop it into a multi-use
project with as many as 250
cottages, town homes and
multi-family units, partly in
hopes of alleviating work-
force housing shortages.
Laird9s growing pains
come with a price. A number
of citizens have been vocal
in their concern at how Laird
is changing the composition
of Sisters. And, as the com-
pany9s footprint becomes
larger, it no longer resembles
the little coffee creamer outfit
created by world-famous big
wave surfer, Laird Hamilton,
in Hawaii.
Neighbors in Clearpine,
the 97-unit housing subdivi-
sion whose southern bound-
ary is immediately across the
street from Laird9s operations,
complain about the noise
from the 53-foot refrigerated
trailers the company has been
forced to position in its park-
ing lot that run generators
24/7. The trailers are a tempo-
rary solution for product stor-
age until its 27,000-square-
foot warehouse is completed.
Ground has been broken for
the building scheduled for
occupancy by summer9s end.
One neighbor on Forest
Edge Drive remains dissatis-
fied, saying, <My husband
is confined with Parkinson9s
and needs rest and quiet. In
the summer we cannot leave
our windows open with the
noise. Even in winter it is a
nuisance.=
Laird is also the recipient
of complaints for the high-
intensity lighting it has erected
in its employee parking lot.
Neighbors take issue with the
PHOTO BY BILL BARTLETT
Laird Superfood has broken ground on a new 27,000-square-foot facility in Sisters.
lights9 infringement on the
dark-sky movement embod-
ied in Sisters Ordinance
251H. Corrective measures
were taken promptly, adjust-
ing the lights9 spread and
hours of illumination.
A neighbor on Heising
Drive said, <We brought the
light issue to their attention
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and within 36 hours they
reached out to us and in a few
days we could see workers on
the light poles making adjust-
ments. That was the kind of
response we expected given
Laird9s reputation.=
According to a 2020 study
by Ipsos Retail Performance,
about 9.7 million Americans
now follow a plant-based diet,
up from just 290,000 in 2004.
This may just be the start.
With exponential demand
likely, the plant-based mar-
ket could be worth $74.2 bil-
lion in the next seven years,
according to Meticulous
Research. Laird Superfood is
very much in the mix.
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SISTERS CITY COUNCIL
Mayor Michael Preedin
mpreedin@ci.sisters.or.us
Council President
Nancy Connolly
nconnolly@ci.sisters.or.us
Councilor Andrea Blum
ablum@ci.sisters.or.us
Councilor Gary Ross
g.ross@ci.sisters.or.us
Councilor Jennifer Letz
jletz@ci.sisters.or.us
Sisters City Hall
520 E. Cascade Ave.
PO Box 39
Sisters, OR 97759
541-549-6022
DESCHUTES COUNTY
BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
Commissioner Patti Adair
Patti.Adair@deschutes.org
541-388-6567
Commissioner Phil Chang
Phil.Chang@deschutes.org
541-388-6569
Commissioner
Anthony DeBone
Tony.DeBone@deschutes.org
541-388-6568
OREGON HOUSE OF
REPRESENTATIVES
Daniel Bonham
District: 59
503-986-1459
900 Court St. NE, H-483
Salem, OR 97301
Rep.DanielBonham@
oregonlegislature.gov
www.oregonlegislature.gov/
bonham
OREGON STATE SENATE
Senator Lynn Findley
District: 30
503-986-1730
900 Court St. NE, S-301
Salem, OR, 97301
Sen.LynnFindley@
oregonlegislature.gov
www.oregonlegislature.gov/
findley
Senator Tim Knopp
District: 27
503-986-1727
900 Court St. NE, S-309
Salem, OR, 97301
Sen.TimKnopp@
oregonlegislature.gov
www.oregonlegislature.gov/
knopp
U.S. HOUSE OF
REPRESENTATIVES
Cliff Bentz
Congressional District 2
541-776-4646
14 N. Central Ave., Suite 112
Medford, OR 97501
https://bentz.house.gov/
contact
U.S. SENATE
Sen. Ron Wyden
https://www.wyden.senate.
gov/contact/email-ron
Sen. Jeff Merkley
https://www.merkley.senate.
gov/contact