Toby's moving to Springfield.

Byline: Joe Harwood The Register-Guard

Toby's Family Foods LLC, the maker of Toby's Tofu pate, will celebrate its 20th year in business by doubling production capacity as it prepares to break into the health-conscious California market.

And the company will be moving away from its longtime home city of Eugene.

The company last month agreed to a five-year lease on a 19,200-square-foot facility at 1160 Shelley St. in Springfield. The building is one of eight warehouses in the McKay Business Park.

Toby's new home will be more than double the 9,000 square feet the company now leases at 497 Highway 99N in Eugene, Toby's President Jonah Alves said.

"We're growing and we've run out of space here," Alves said.

As part of the move to Springfield, Toby's will spend $1.5 million to $2 million on new food processing equipment and tenant improve- ments.

Alves said the dearth of space at the Eugene location and the strong probability that a large West Coast grocery chain will begin carrying the company's organic tofu pate and salad dressings are driving the expansion. Plus, the company is likely to get a sizeable property tax break in Springfield, a benefit Eugene doesn't offer.

Alves, who declined to name the West Coast chain until a deal is finalized, said the expansion will result in Toby's adding at least five full-time jobs right away, followed by one or two new positions a year. The company now employs 12 full-time workers and eight to 10 part-timers, he said.

Toby's annual sales are about $1.5 million, Alves said.

The company's protein-rich tofu pate, once found only in health food stores, is now distributed in specialty and mass-market grocery outlets across Oregon and in western Washington.

Because the pate contains no preservatives and must remain refrigerated during its 18-day shelf life, Toby's limits distribution to the West Coast.

The company's move to Springfield is likely to give the company a three-year property tax waiver. All new development and expansion on industrial-designated land in Springfield is potentially eligible for the state-sanctioned enterprise zone program that allows the tax breaks.

Toby's already has applied for the tax waivers, said John Tamulonis, Springfield's economic development manager.

Based on the roughly $2 million the company will spend on improvements and equipment, Toby's would save roughly $90,000 in property taxes over the three-year life of the exemption.

An initial review of the company's expansion and hiring plans looks as if Toby's qualifies for the tax breaks, Tamulonis said. One state-mandated requirement is that if a company moves from one location to another within the same urban area, it must increase jobs by at least 10 percent to qualify for the break, and Toby's would do that.

"It's nice to see firms like Toby's willing to expand in Springfield," Tamulonis added.

Eugene no longer offers enterprise-zone tax breaks on new industrial projects. The city ended the breaks after controversy over the magnitude of the tax waivers obtained by the Hynix computer chip plant in west Eugene.

Alves said Toby's hopes to be in the Shelley Street building by May or June, after Northwest Vending Co., the current tenant, moves out.

Northwest Vending, owned by the principals of the local Pepsi-Cola bottling and distribution franchise, will move to the former headquarters and warehouse of bankrupt Troutman's Emporium on McVay Highway in Eugene. The Pepsi franchise, Willamette Beverage Co., bought and is remodeling the Emporium site.

Steve Korth, of McKay Investment Co., which owns the McKay business park, said Northwest Vending should be out by June 1.

CAPTION(S):

D e v e l o p m e n t Brian Davies / The Register-Guard, 2002 An employee works on the production line of tofu pate at Toby's Family Foods LLC in Eugene. As part of the company's move to Springfield, Toby's will spend $1.5 million to $2 million on new food processing equipment. "It's nice to see firms like Toby's willing to expand in Springfield." JOHN TAMULONIS ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT MANAGER