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Amy’s Kitchen joins community By Nick Morgan Updated: Jul 15, 2022 03:43 PM A A New local leadership has sparked efforts by the company to be more visible and involved Josh Self, the plant manager at Amy's Kitchen, greets fair-goers Wednesday from a booth set up at the Jackson County Fair. [Andy Atkinson / Mail Tribune] From sponsoring free parking at the Jackson County Fair to helping local nonprofits, Amy’s Kitchen is making its biggest effort in a decade and a half to meet its Southern Oregon neighbors. The Petaluma, California-based vegetarian prepared-foods juggernaut has largely kept a low profile since its expansion to Southern Oregon in 2006. But Josh Self, who’s managed the company’s White City plant since October, has a new vision that includes a more prominent place in the local community. “Some people don’t know we are local,” Self said Wednesday in a phone interview while on his way to a booth at the Jackson County Fair. It’s the company’s first-ever booth in nearly 16 years in Southern Oregon. Self said he admires the community presence of other large employers in the Rogue Valley, such as how Harry & David sponsors a Medford baseball park and is active in such local community events as Medford’s Pear Blossom parade. “We want to be involved in outdoor activities, supporting the things that fit our brand, that fit what Amy’s is about,” Self said. Self said his primary goal since taking on the role of plant manager in October is creating a “better community presence.” He described co-sponsoring free fair parking with People’s Bank of Commerce as an early step toward that goal. “That was one of the first big things we’ve done for the community,” Self said. They want to do more. Self said the company donated more than 150,000 meals to the Oregon Food Bank last year, and earlier this spring it began a partnership with Community Works to provide meals for victims of domestic violence staying at the local nonprofit’s Dunn House temporary shelter. “We’re looking for more opportunities locally to provide donations,” Self said. During the Labor Day 2020 fires, The Expo became the mass evacuation site for people displaced by both the Almeda and South Obenchain fires. Self said part of the reason Amy’s is starting its outreach with the fair is because next time there’s a community emergency, they’ll have the relationship in place with The Expo to help. “I think the key to it is to network so people know we’re available,” Self said. “As we mature in what we’re trying to do, who knows where we’ll end up?” It all adds up to the company’s biggest attempt at visibility since Oct. 24, 2006, when Amy’s cut the ribbon on its 176,000-square-foot facility in White City. According to Mail Tribune archives, the arrival drew a crowd that included Rachel and Andy Berliner — who founded the company in 1987 to create vegetarian meals suitable for their daughter, Amy — and involved then Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski, who flipped the ceremonial switch. The plant off Antelope Road — which added another 120,000 square feet in 2015 — was the company’s first expansion outside of California. In addition to its processing plants in Santa Rosa and San Jose, California, the privately held company also operates a processing plant in Pocatello, Idaho. Self said Pocatello has a larger footprint, but the Southern Oregon plant and its 800 employees is currently the company’s largest producer. When it started in 2006, it primarily was a pizza plant. The Southern Oregon frozen-food line prepares pizza, entrees, meal bowls and all of the gluten-free burritos the company makes. “The wheat burritos are made in Santa Rosa,” Self said. The Santa Rosa plant makes many of the company’s more labor-intensive products. On a typical day, the Southern Oregon plant makes 80,000 gluten-free burritos, up to 80,000 pizzas and 250,000 cans of soups, chili and refried beans. As with so many other companies in Southern Oregon and around the country, a key reason behind the local outreach is recruiting. The company currently has 30 positions open, with the greatest needs being maintenance mechanics and production. Especially on the canning line, kitchen roles are operator positions. Staff in those positions can work with as many as 77,000 pounds of tomatoes going into a kettle at a time. “We call it a kitchen, but it’s very large-scale,” Self said. He said the plant in White City aims to hire and develop talent from within, and he described plant positions as jobs with a lot of upward mobility. Of the 10 managers that report to him, five started in the hourly ranks. “All of my management staff grew as this plant grew,” Self said. “It’s just irreplaceable to have that. “They can call upon those past experiences to set us up for success.” Reach Mail Tribune web editor Nick Morgan at 541-776-4471 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @MTwebeditor.