Hawaiian Vanilla wins USDA grant
A small vanilla farm on the Big Island has been awarded part of a $22.7 million grant from the United States Department of Agriculture to boost sales of its products to the gourmet vanilla market.
The Hawaiian Vanilla Co. Inc., run by Jim and Tracy Reddekopp, was awarded $41,000 to create a business plan to help manufacture and distribute their products to mainland markets.
"A small farm like ours, we've been shooting from the hip for years," said company President Jim Reddekopp. "A lot of it is risk and deciding from our gut where we move forward."
The company, founded in 1998, has doubled its gross sales over the last two years, recording more than $400,000 in the 2007 fiscal year, compared to $240,000 last year and $80,000 in 2005.
The couple, along with their five young children and three employees, operate a one-acre vanilla farm, a commercial kitchen and specialty gift shop, offering more than 35 vanilla-based products at their family farm in Paauilo, about a half-hour drive from Waimea.
They also wholesale their products, which include items such as vanilla barbecue sauce and vanilla lilikoi dressing to the Compleat Kitchen in Kahala Mall and at Ala Moana Center and run culinary events at the farm for about 150 people each week.
The Reddekopps own 20 acres of farm land on the Hamakua Coast. They plan to launch a second acre of vanilla production this month and three more acres by the fall of 2009.