Washington County Economic report

Vermont Business Magazine, Nov 01, 1997 by Roberts, Eloise

Cabot predicted the expansion will continue too. He is now exporting to Japan, Denmark, England and Germany, and distributes socks for men, women and children through such big name stores as Bass Shoes, The Gap, and Abercrombie & Fitch. "We expect in the next seven years, probably less than seven years, to double our production," said Cabot.

"Our customers will support that." And in his new location, he has space for such expansion. "With very little effort, we can open up the back of the building and add 30,000 square feet," he said.

In Waterbury, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters is just completing a 40,000-square-foot expansion of its production space and will be adding 40 new jobs to staff that factility, said Paul Comey, executive director and vice president of facilities. The recently announced partnership with Poland Spring will mean the Green Mountain Coffee will be served in offices throughout the Northeast. It will replace several brands of coffee that Poland Spring had delivered to its commercial bottled water accounts.

This is just the latest of a number of marketing affiliations by Green Mountain Coffee. "It is just another arrow in the quiver, another account that allows us to achieve our long-term goals of growth," said Comey. He said the company's goal is a growth rate of at least 20 percent annually. From 1994 through 1996, the company saw its sales triple.

Earlier this year the company announced a deal with the nationwide Staples office supply store chain to distribute Green Mountain Coffee.

Also new this year were agreements to supply coffee to Midway Airlines and convenience stores operated by Mobil Oil.

"We're very optimistic about the future," said Comey. "I don't believe we've ever been in better financial shape." Meanwhile, Ben & Jerry's, with its principal manufacturing in Waterbury, announced that profits had jumped 39 percent in its third quarter. However, for the first nine months of the year, the $3.2 million in profits was down from $5.1 million through the same period last year.

One of the more volatile companies in the county, in terms of numbers of employees, is Bombardier Corporation of Barre. This manufacturer of rail cars sees employment ebb and flow, depending on contracts it receives, and there had been concern that the company's expansion of facilities at the former Air Force Base in Plattsburgh, NY, might mean fewer jobs in Washington County.

But at a Central Vermont Economic Development Corporation board meeting in mid-October, Bombardier General Manager Paul Harris announced that the Barre facility had won the contract to build cars for the new high-speed train between Washington, DC, and Boston and that they are already in the preliminary start-up phase for that project. The firm now has about 50 employees but expects to begin adding positions shortly, with 20 new jobs scheduled for January. By September next year, Bombardier in Barre expects to have 150 employees and by the time it reaches full production in January 1999, 200 people should be working there.