Oregon Hill Farms under new ownership

Many St. Helens locals may know of Oregon Hill Farms because they may have picked strawberries for Fred Luttrell back in the day. But, over time, the berry fields disappeared, and Oregon Hill became what is known as “a co-packer,” a facility that makes and packs food products.

Since transitioning to a co-pack operation, the company has become known for its fruit jams and syrups made from crops grown in Oregon.

For the better part of the last two decades, the company was owned by Tom and Carmen McMahon of St. Helens. With the McMahons stepping back and retiring at the end of April, they sold the business to a group of locals interested in expanding production.

The new owners are Dave and Kathy Innocenti, Brad and Elisa Rakes, Randy and Illine May, Terry and Eileen McMahon (no relation to the former owners), and David and Mindy Sass. The ownership group took over May 1. While the ownership may be new, Dan McMahon, Tom and Carmen’s son, has remained the production manager for the company.

Different backgrounds

Brad Rakes said that though none of the new owners have experience in the co-packing industry, they all bring skills from their other professions.

Randy May is a retired contractor and has been overseeing bids for replacing the roof. Elisa Rakes has been managing social media and updating the gift shop at the facility. David Sass has been using his plumbing skills to handle maintenance for the company. Illine May has taken on looking for business grants and connecting with economic development resources, while Eileen McMahon is using her experience to develop an inventory management system. Terry McMahon has taken on re-stocking products being sold at St. Helens Market Fresh, and Mindy Sass, who owns Sass at Home and NW Plumbing with her husband and who is also an accountant, has been the go-to source for many aspects of retail and accounting questions.

“Everybody brings different experiences, and that’s been really amazing because we all have different connections; we all have different business experience that can lend itself to running a place like this, even though none of us have done co-packing before,” Kathy Innocenti said.

Co-packing and production

In addition to jams and syrups, the facility also produces barbecue sauces, honey, Bloody Mary mixes, and other bar mixers, some of which are packed for other companies. Oregon Hill Farms is excited to bring its signature Bloody Mary mix to the Portland Bloody Mary Festival this fall.

Kathy Innocenti explained that co-packing is packaging products for customers, as well as Oregon Hill Farm product lines. Operations Manager Brad Rakes explained that process.

“Somebody might have a recipe for barbecue sauce, and they want someone to prepare it and bottle it for them because you can’t do it in your own kitchen, obviously, so they give us the recipe, and we make it in big batches and bottle it up,” Brad Rakes said.

Kathy Innocenti said they sell a lot of their own product, but they have also been increasing their “private labeling,” which means they are selling their product to companies that can label it as their own. Though there is no longer a farm component to Oregon Hill Farms, the owners said that about “99 percent” of the ingredients they use for their products are sourced from Oregon.

In addition to producing their own line of honey they are expanding their St. Helens Bloody Mary line with additional flavors. They are also working on ideas for other products, including dry spice mixes, and the owners said they see a lot of possibilities for expanding what they can offer customers.

“We see so many opportunities to bring in new customers. The first couple of months, we were spending learning the business, working the customers that we already have. Dave’s been making calls,” Kathy Innocenti said. “We’ve done events, like we were at the [county] fair, Citizens Day at the Park, just to get the brand reintroduced in the community, and now we’re starting to see the results of some of the phone calls that have been made.”

The owners noted the importance of Chris Ludwig, who is the head cook of the operation, and he has worked at the company for six years. Brad Rakes and Kathy Innocenti said that Ludwig is in charge of scaling and making all of the recipes that they need to produce.

Another integral member has been Dan McMahon. His staying on has eased the transition for the new managers. Having worked under his parents prior to the acquisition, McMahon has done a lot of the heavy lifting for training everyone as they take on this new endeavor.

“It would have been impossible without him,” Brad Rakes said. “None of us know anything about this, so we needed him! He’s been instrumental.”

What’s ahead?

Some of the big plans the new owners have for the company are remodeling the on-site gift shop, reconnecting with former customers who fell away during the pandemic, participating in local events, and expanding online sales. Once they have the renovations done on the facility, they hope to host tastings and events at the property.

Oregon Hill Farms is located at 32861 Pittsburg Road in the Yankton area of St. Helens. The gift shop is open Monday through Friday, 9-3, and some products are also available at Sass at Home, Lightning Treats & Sweets/Rose Street Boutique, and St. Helens Market Fresh.

“We’ve got a lot of exciting things coming down the pipeline,” Kathy Innocenti said. “We’re all looking forward to seeing the process and how it works.”