Amy’s Kitchen aims for downtown Petaluma headquarters

Pivoting from plans to locate its headquarters in a much-anticipated development along Petaluma’s riverfront, organic food vendor Amy’s Kitchen confirmed the company is now eyeing the former Carithers Department Store building in the heart of downtown Petaluma.

Amy’s officials said that the company submitted an application to move into the vacant building at 109 Kentucky St., and they expect those materials to be reviewed by Petaluma city planners next week. While the move is not yet official, employees are excited for a future at the downtown site.

“The whole business started out of a little agricultural barn on D Street in Petaluma, and it just feels so fitting to have our home right in the core of the town that’s always supported us,” said Paul Schiefer, senior director of sustainability and social impact at Amy's Kitchen. “We have employees who bought their prom dresses at Carithers when it was a department store, and now they are so excited they can come work in that same location that had such deep memories to them personally.”

The development came after the organic food giant in January ditched plans to shift its headquarters to a 147,300-square-foot space at the proposed Scannell mixed-use development site. The shift took place amid a flurry of activity, and accusations, for the longtime Petaluma business.

In December, the vegetarian food vendor sold three of its production facilities in Santa Rosa, Oregon and Idaho to New York-based real estate investment trust W.P. Carey Inc. for $144 million. Amy’s Kitchen then leased the buildings back for 30 years in the deal.

More recently, the business received widespread criticism after a complaint was filed Jan. 20 by five employees at its Santa Rosa facility who claimed they sustained injuries due to poor work conditions.

Company officials have said those developments played no role in the company’s decision to pivot on its headquarters location. Instead, they’ve cited timeline delays as the central reason for the change. Additionally, Schiefer said proximity to the SMART station, restaurants and other community services made the Kentucky street location a better fit.

Schiefer added a change to a hybrid workplace dynamic due to the pandemic also contributed, as not all employees will be using facilities in-person on a full-time basis.

“And the more and more we looked at (the Scannell plans), there were all these costs and we were like ‘We can’t do this well,’” Schiefer said as he explained the Scannell plans grew more abstract and out of reach as the pandemic loomed. “Our employees want all these services involved in an office, but we’re not Google. We’re not at that scale.”

The move to the Kentucky Street site would breathe new life into a corner of downtown Petaluma. The former Carithers site, city officials say, has been dormant for at least five years, and during the pandemic, numerous other storefronts were forced to close.

Petaluma Deputy Planning Manager Tiffany Robbe said she and other city officials look forward to working with Amy’s Kitchen to get its new location locked in place.

“We’re excited about the possibility of having Amy’s headquarters here in Petaluma, and committed to working with them to find solutions,” Robbe said in a Tuesday phone interview.

Schiefer said 50-60 employees would use the new office building each week. The space would also move away from a typical office environment and would incorporate an “open office” design to create a more lively, collaborative workspace for employees, he said.

If a permit issued, the building would require earthquake retrofitting and sustainability upgrades before the company moves in, said Schiefer, with construction starting as soon as next month. Amy’s employees would then move in as early as next year.

The Kentucky Street building was home to longtime department store Carithers, which opened in the late 1940s and operated there for 40 years. The building was also home to the locally-owned Couches Etc., which opened in 1986.

Amelia Parreira is a staff writer for the Argus-Courier. She can be reached at amelia.parreira@arguscourier.com or 707-521-5208.

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