Bell-bottoms, in vogue when Frontier Co-op launched in 1976, have ebbed and flowed in fashion, but the mission of the Norway, Iowa-based cooperative has never gone out of style, according to CEO Tony Bedard.
“It’s purpose-driven work, with good products that are good for you,” Mr. Bedard said of Frontier, which is dedicated to sourcing high quality spices, herbs and botanical products through its Frontier Co-op, Simply Organic and Aura Cacia brands.
While those products are vital to the co-op’s success, he cited Frontier’s approach to employees as the key ingredient.
“It’s a fundamental part of what we do,” said Mr. Bedard, who joined the co-op in 1991 as head of operations and was named CEO in 2003.
Frontier has provided on-site childcare and an organic café since its inception, both of which continue today.
More recently, its Breaking Down Barriers to Employment initiative has offered apprenticeships,subsidized transportation and second-chance hiring for homeless individuals and others.
“It’s not a charitable act,” Mr. Bedard said. “We’re getting good employees.”
Frontier also is developing a partnership with the Catherine McAuley Center to support refugee and immigrant families for Corridor employment opportunities.
Starting as a two-person operation selling herbs and spices to local co-ops from a cabin along the Wapsipinicon River, Frontier has steadily grown to become a major supplier to the natural products industry.
In its first decade, it moved operations to a Fairfax store, began bottling essential oils and incorporated as a customer-owned cooperative.
In the 1980s, Frontier purchased 10 acres near Norway, Iowa, to build a 22,152-square-foot facility and was listed 78th on Inc. magazine’s “America’s Fastest Growing Companies.”
The 1990s brought the launch of a line of Frontier Co-op brand bottled spices and establishment of a tallgrass prairie on its Norway site. It also bought the Aura Cacia aromatherapy brand.
Frontier introduced Simply Organic, a 100 percent organic line, and began offering Fair Trade Certified teas in the 2000s. During that decade, it established the Well Earth program to develop high quality, socially responsible suppliers around the world and introduced the first Fair Trade Certified spices in the United States.
In the past decade, Frontier purchased and renovated a 100,000-square-foot facility in North Liberty and warehouse in Belle Plaine.
Through Aura Cacia, it built a preschool in Madagascar; expanded dental services with a new clinic in Guatemala, and through the Simply Organic Giving Fund, the Well Earth program built 49 wells in communities supplying vanilla, among other international efforts.
Frontier Co-op and its Simply Organic and Aura Cacia brands donate more than $1 million annually.
Locally, Frontier employs about 550 people at its sites in Norway, Belle Plaine, North Liberty and Urbana.
Mr. Bedard said that number bumped up to more than 600 employees at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, when demand for their products rose as more people were cooking at home, and has since returned to pre-pandemic levels through attrition.
A foray into CBD began shortly before the pandemic, but ended due in part to issues related to Iowa regulatory challenges.
The co-op manufactures about 1,800 products, and distributes more than 7,500 other brands, with spices and extracts experiencing the largest growth in the past decade.
In addition to mainstays including New Pioneer Food Co-op, Frontier has moved into larger stores, such as Target.
Looking ahead, Mr. Bedard said Frontier will continue its emphasis on healthy products with a purpose, as it expands into home care products under Aura Cacia, and offers new Simply Organic spice blends for grilling.
“We continue to grow. Our business is good,” he said. “I’m optimistic about the future.”
Frontier Co-op details:
2022 Revenue: $203.4 M
Established: 1976
Top Executive: Tony Bedard, CEO
This article was originally published in the CBJ’s Largest Privately Held Companies magazine.
In 2023, this magazine celebrated its tenth anniversary, after a three-year hiatus due to the pandemic. It featured a look back through the last decade and a glimpse into the future of the Corridor’s biggest, and most impactful, companies. Through in-depth interviews and people-focussed articles, the magazine explored how these industry titans have supported and inspired their communities through hardship and prosperity, and how they plan to continue their involvement for years to come.
