Work here only if you want a good job

Vermont Business Magazine, Aug 01, 1998

Also, many small software companies are burgeoning in the Upper Valley. It is difficult to know the exact number; some say it is upward of 20 or 30, with many having just one or two employees. There are also a respectable number of specialty food producers in the area: chip makers, beer makers, and a variety of others. "We're still doing some milking and logging, but it's not what it needs to be," Michaels said.

Catamount Brewing Company in Windsor is doing very well, reports Jeff Close, director of external relations.

"We're very fortunate," Close said. "We have about 35 employees, and most of them came with us when we moved from our original plant in White River Junction to Windsor last August. The new plant is state-of-the-art and will carry us well into the next century."

When Catamount started, it cobbled together its equipment from whatever it found at hand. Now it has state-of-the-art brewing machinery, Close said. Most training is done in-house, and the company has developed a national reputation for "graduating" master brewers.

"When we started in 1984-5, for people who wanted to become craft brewers, the only training available was in a home brewery," Close said.

"Steve Mason, our founder and brewmaster, was a home brewmaster. He apprenticed himself to a small craft brewery outside of London. When he came home, there wasn't even a manufacturer for equipment. Since then, we've been a training ground for brewmasters for Harpoon, Commonwealth, Back Bay, and even the McNeils in Brattleboro. We're pretty well known in the industry, not only for our beers but for our professional training."

Catamount is now looking to hire tour guides who love talking about beer, Close said.

Another flourishing company in the area is Newsbank Inc of Chester. Employing 280 people and reporting a sales range upward of $10 million, the company produces data and curriculum for libraries and school systems on CD-Rom, and sells its products all over the world.

"They're on the Main Street of Chester," said Patricia Moulton Powden, executive director of the Springfield Regional Development Corp.

"Now, Chester is 10 on the 'quaint meter.' But if you drove through Chester, you probably wouldn't notice them. Their training center burnt down last spring and they built a new one which fits in beautifully. They bring in groups of 20 or 30 people who spend the weekend in Chester, are trained in new products, and hang around the restaurants and shops."

In other Windsor County economic news, Powden said, the Vermont Community Development Program has given a grant to the town of Springfield to redevelop some of its older, vacant buildings. SPDC is looking to redevelop the old Windsor High School into a software incubator And Okemo Mountain has planned some major expansion.

"They're building a whole new village center, with new lifts, a golf course--they're expanding their four season resort capacity," Powden said.

One problem, which Powden terms an "annoyance," is that New Hampshire is actively recruiting Vermont companies.