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MIKE ALLEN | The Roanoke Times/
Gov. Ralph Northam (at podium) presents a Virginia flag to Traditional Medicinals CEO Blair Kellison and to the company’s co-founder and Chairman Drake Sadler. In the background, first lady Pamela Northam and Franklin County Board of Supervisors Chairman Leland Mitchell watch. The governor announced the California company would build its East Coast manufacturing and distribution plant in the county’s Summit View Business Park.
Summit View Business Park is located off U.S. 220 midway between Boones Mill and Rocky Mount.
ROCKY MOUNT — The newest business at Franklin County’s fledgling industrial park came all the way from California to throw a tea party.
Traditional Medicinals, the fourth largest maker of bagged tea in the United States, will build a factory in the county’s Summit View Business Park.
The $29.7 million investment will create 56 jobs, company, state and county officials said Tuesday.
In December, the Franklin County Board of Supervisors passed a Second Amendment sanctuary resolution in protest of impending gun control legislation sought by Gov. Ralph Northam from the newly elected Democratic majority in the incoming General Assembly.
Tuesday, in that same chamber, with Northam and his wife Pamela behind the podium, the ambience was one of smiles, handshakes and hugs.
“It’s all about our economy,” Northam said. “People in Virginia want a job that they can support themselves and their family with.”
The state and local incentives brokered by Franklin County and the Roanoke Regional Partnership include 30 acres of land and a grant of $360,000 for utility extensions from the county and a $350,000 grant from the Commonwealth’s Opportunity Fund. The state tobacco commission has approved a $245,000 grant and $245,000 loan from the Tobacco Region Opportunity Fund for the project.
Traditional Medicinals is required to make more than half of its planned investment within five years in order to receive the funds.
The privately held company intends to build a 125,000-square-foot building in the business park, situated alongside U.S. 220 between Boones Mill and Rocky Mount.
It will use regional contractors for the construction, said company cofounder and Chairman Drake Sadler, emphasizing that landscaping the property will come first.
The company intends to create gardens that visitors can tour featuring the trees and plants used in its products, such as wild cherry and slippery elm, the main ingredients in Throat Coat.
“I want this to be an educational experience for people also,” Sadler said.
Sadler started the company in 1974 with his first wife, Rosemary Gladstar, a well-known herbalist and author.
The company plans for jobs at the factory to pay an average annual wage of $47,862, more than $13,000 higher than the county’s prevailing annual wage of $34,145, according to the performance agreements signed with the county and state.
Much of the tea company’s packaging processes are automated, requiring $2 million machines that are tended to by programmers and engineers, Sadler said. Quality control testing of the teas will require laboratory-related skills. The factory also will employ warehouse workers and office staff.
Company officials said its teas, such as Throat Coat and Mother’s Milk, are sold at more than 70,000 retail outlets. Most of the company’s customers are east of the Mississippi River and many of the herbs it uses as ingredients are imported through Europe, making an East Coast facility a natural next step.
“We weren’t looking for a piece of property, we were looking for a community,” said Traditional Medicinals CEO Blair Kellison.
The company picked the Roanoke Valley out of about 50 prospects through a process that took about two years, he said.
In this instance, one county’s gain ended up being another’s loss.
“We were just about set to go to a place in Botetourt County,” Kellison said, but at “the 11th hour” company officials returned to the valley to check out one more possible location.
“That place just happened to be Summit View, Franklin County, the very last place we looked at.”
Botetourt County Administrator Gary Larrowe wrote in an email that Traditional Medicinals’ decision is a victory for the region.
“When we can assist and celebrate wins like this together, we all benefit.”
Traditional Medicinals will be the third and largest company in the 550-acre Summit View Business Park.
Stik-Pak Solutions is building a $14.3 million, 100,000-square-foot facility, and ValleyStar Credit Union will have its administrative campus at the park.
Franklin County broke ground on the business park in October 2017.
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Mike Allen is the editorial page editor for The Roanoke Times. His past beats as a Roanoke Times reporter included Botetourt County, Franklin County, courts and legal issues, and arts and culture.
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MIKE ALLEN | The Roanoke Times/
Gov. Ralph Northam (at podium) presents a Virginia flag to Traditional Medicinals CEO Blair Kellison and to the company’s co-founder and Chairman Drake Sadler. In the background, first lady Pamela Northam and Franklin County Board of Supervisors Chairman Leland Mitchell watch. The governor announced the California company would build its East Coast manufacturing and distribution plant in the county’s Summit View Business Park.
Summit View Business Park is located off U.S. 220 midway between Boones Mill and Rocky Mount.
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