As St. Francis Herb Farm (SFHF) builds a new 33,000 square foot facility to bring all its production, distribution and warehousing functions under one roof — with a view to expanding its manufacturing capabilities — SFHF President, CEO and Co-owner Paul Rivett-Carnac took the opportunity to provide more details. He spoke to The Current recently and followed up with a presentation to Madawaska Valley Council at their Council in Committee meeting on April 6. Above members of Council respond to an update from Rivett-Carnac (bottom row).
He said more space in the new facility will allow SFHF to grow the manufacturing side of the business, specifically the extraction of various herbs with more customized equipment and processes. Rivett-Carnac said among the growth areas for SFHF are Research and Development (R&D), contract manufacturing, online sales and specialized technologies. SFHF has already begun to flesh out its work force to meet the need for specific skill sets in R&D, Quality Control, technical, engineering and project management.
“We’ve invested a lot in our R&D in the last couple of years…. supported by some partnerships with [academic partners like] the University of Ottawa…. Our R&D efforts are twofold: one is to help develop new products and the other one is to help us develop at the R&D prototype stage our new processes so that when we are ready to move into the new facility and incorporate new equipment, our focus then is scaling up from the R&D stage to production.”
Rivett-Carnac said that bringing all the processes like encapsulation under one roof helps SFHF take full control of the product from beginning to end. Consumers increasingly look for brands that are completely transparent. “For us to be able to use the farm as well in all this and build that seed to shelf story is really going to work well for us. There are consumers out there that really value that.”
SFHF also identified a growth opportunity because of their own struggles with contract manufacturing, he said. “We see a niche, a need for smaller batch contract manufacturing with a high level of service to people that are looking for solutions.”
Acknowledging that Covid has accelerated online selling for the company, Rivett-Carnac said that while SFHF has “a pretty broad distribution model – we sell to naturopathic doctors, we’re in health food stores, we’re in a few grocery chains” the move into online selling is “really all about meeting our customers where they are shopping.”
SFHF aims for a smooth transition into the building without interrupting service to customers. After a settling-in period, the focus will move to “bringing in some technologies to help us with that. So ERP is a big one, the warehouse management system will be another big one.” (Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) is software to manage and integrate the entire organization.)
Grateful for collaboration and community support
Rivett-Carnac applauded the SFHF workforce and told MV Council that it was very much a team effort. He summarized the contents of a recent SFHF media release which said, “The township, consultants, engineers, public agencies, construction partners and the St. Francis Herb Farm team members have been working hand in hand to meet aggressive timelines with a diverse set of challenges during this unique time for manufacturing in Canada.” He emphasized how helpful municipal and county staff had been throughout the process, and said that SFHF hopes to hold a ribbon-cutting ceremony in October, to which he extended an invitation to members of Council.
On the subject of collaboration, Rivett-Carnac emphasized thanks to the local community from everyone at SFHF. “We’re grateful for the support that we’ve received from people that we’re bumping into in town. It’s just a continuous stream of support and positivity, both from our neighbours and from anybody we’ve talked to…. We’re here to help diversify and do our part to drive the local economy. We’re here for the long term.”
