North Bay Business Journal

ROHNERT PARK — Amy’s Kitchen brought the convenience of frozen vegetarian meals to the grocery aisle 25 years ago, and now the Petaluma-based packaged-foods company wants to do the same for the fast-food drive-through.

Sutter Medical Center of Santa Rosa and Kaiser Foundation hospitals in Santa Rosa and Vacaville were the three North Bay facilities on latest list of the nation’s top performers in “key quality measures” by The Joint Commission, the leading accreditor of U.S. health care organizations. …

Northern California Center for Well-Being on Sept. 14 held its annual “Celebration of Dreams,” honoring local health care professionals and individuals for improving overall health in the region: Amy’s Kitchen, Gary Pace of West County Health Centers, Zuli Baron of St. Joseph Health, Andrea Michelsen of Kaiser Permanente and Hannah Early, a student at Analy High School. …

Two Petaluma orthodontists recently purchased a 7,500 square-foot former Wells Fargo branch at 301 Washington St. and plan to remodel it for their private practice. …

North Bay Cancer Alliance, a Santa Rosa-based nonprofit, launched a new website, a new brand and renewed focus on expanded community programs. …

Rachel Berliner is co-founder and “chief taster” of Amy’s Kitchen, Inc., a Sonoma County-based company that produces frozen and canned meals made from vegetarian, organic ingredients, has been a family-owned, family-run business for the past 25 years.

ROHNERT PARK – Marin and Napa counties are on track to be the “shining stars” of economic recovery in the six-county North Bay Area in 2012, though the enduring caution of commercial lenders and other pressures will likely keep growth modest across the entire region this year, according to regional economics expert Dr. Robert Eyler.

Amy’s Kitchen had, as the company likes to say, “a beautiful beginning.” It was 1988, Amy’s CEO Andy Berliner’s and his wife and company co-founder, Rachel, were expecting the birth of their daughter, Amy. It was a night no one wanted to cook, so Mr. Berliner went to the store and purchased a prepared frozen dinner. It was terrible. They knew they could do better. And so, Amy’s Kitchen was launched.

SANTA ROSA — Amy’s Kitchen has taken a unique step among Sonoma County employers in opening a primary care clinic at its southwest Santa Rosa production facility, a move the maker of natural convenience foods said will help reduce health care costs and increase convenience and health for employees and their families.

In the following interview, Amy’s Kitchen Chief Executive Officer Andy Berliner touches on the company’s growth in and beyond Sonoma County, the status of the planned South Carolina plan, potential for sales of prepared natural foods in foreign markets and the proposed ballot measure California Right to Know Genetically Engineered Food Act, which was submitted to the state Attorney General’s Office last month. Mr. Berliner will be a panelist at the 2012 Sonoma State University Economic Outlook Conference on Feb. 23 in Rohnert Park.

NORTH BAY – After nearly 25 years in Petaluma, Barbara’s Bakery will depart in June. Yet times are good for most food manufacturers in the North Bay. The improving economy has been kind to the food business as consumers treat themselves in restaurants and supermarkets.

The annual Sonoma State University Economic Outlook Conference Feb. 23, which for nearly two decades has been one of the benchmark events in the North Bay, will include a unique combination of high-level presentations from one of the region’s leading economists, the founder of the area’s private natural foods producer and a top state budget official.

PETALUMA [updated Dec. 21] — Amy’s Kitchen, maker of prepared natural and organic foods, plans to reconfigure its Santa Rosa and Oregon operations as the planned opening of a $63 million East Coast production facility has been pushed back “a few years.”

SANTA ROSA – Amy’s Kitchen, producer of packaged all-natural frozen foods, is considering a restaurant concept in the North Bay.

SANTA ROSA — Natural prepared foods maker Amy’s Kitchen plans to open a $63 million, 700-employee production plant in Greenville, S.C., in January 2012, according to an announcement today by South Carolina officials. Acquisition of a 125,000-square-foot former bakery includes land that could accommodate a plant twice that size, according to a commercial real estate agent involved in the pending deal.

SANTA ROSA — Packaged natural foods producer Amy’s Kitchen Inc. has signed a 10-year lease for a nearly 110,000-square-foot former Ritz Foodservice distribution warehouse at 3000 Dutton Ave. in southwest Santa Rosa.

SANTA ROSA – Growing numbers of employers of all sizes in the North Bay are embracing wellness programs for their employees. A recent survey of commercial insurance carriers by the Business Journal revealed a common theme of business clients seeking information or actively developing wellness programs both to manage employee health care costs and prepare for the impact of health care reform.

SEBASTOPOL – A long-time family-owned business in Sonoma County has jumped on opportunities offered by the soft real estate market and new SBA incentives to purchase its own building in Santa Rosa.

More than two years after the first meeting of community, health and business leaders known as Sonoma Health Action, the council charged with taking health care improvement into its own hands has come full circle. With two successful programs under way, the group commenced one of its final initiatives this month, addressing the root of [...]

ROHNERT PARK – Students at Sonoma State University’s School of Business are trying out a new way of learning operations management by attending classes onsite at local companies.

NORTH BAY — As consumers juggle priorities in a down economy, one item they’re not dropping is organic food. In fact, more of them are picking it up, if the growth trajectories of local organic food producers are an indication. Chicken farmer, baker and ice cream maker alike are bucking the trend.

SANTA ROSA, PETALUMA – Amy’s Kitchen has signed a lease for a 30,000-square-foot space in Petaluma and will begin moving its 85-member administrative staff from Santa Rosa this week. According to co-founder and President Andy Berliner, the sales, marketing, financial and customer service departments were scattered among four locations near the Santa Rosa processing plant.