Tea Company Validates Regional Strategy
Traditional Medicinals, the leading seller of organic herbal wellness tea in the U.S., will build a $29.7 million manufacturing and processing facility in Franklin County’s Summit View Business Park and create 56 jobs.
The Roanoke Regional Partnership and Virginia Economic Development Partnership worked for almost two years on this project which was successful due to a combination of deliberate actions by the Partnership and Franklin County aimed at improving our chances for a win.
Traditional Medicinals, Inc. is a pioneer of the wellness tea category and the leading seller of both organic tea and Fair Trade Certified™ herbal teas in the U.S. and Canada. More than 60 high-quality wellness teas are formulated by herbalists using medicinal grade herbs.
“Traditional Medicinals’ selection of Franklin County and the Roanoke region is not happenstance,” said Beth Doughty, executive director of the Roanoke Regional Partnership. “Traditional Medicinals’ corporate culture and brand values are perfectly aligned with our regional narrative of natural beauty, environmental sustainability, and active, healthy lifestyles.”
“It was incredibly important that we found a location that embodied our company values,” said Blair Kellison, CEO. “We’ve worked for decades to ensure that the work we do positively impacts both the environment and the people in the communities where we do business.”
The Partnership and Roanoke Outside have built a community narrative that matches the corporate culture and brand values of companies in the natural products sector. Economic impact modeling (IMPLAN) by the Partnership indicates this project will have an overall annual economic impact of $62,338,236 at full operation and spur creation of more than 181 secondary jobs.
Franklin County also took the steps to be prepared for this opportunity with the creation of the Summit View Business Park.
“Traditional Medicinals was impressed with Franklin County’s investment in its future because they also plan strategically on a 40-year horizon,” Doughty said. “If the county had not been prepared with a shovel ready site, this project would have gone somewhere else. Culture and real estate, working together, create outcomes such as this.”
Founded in 1974 in Sonoma County, California, Traditional Medicinals is an independent company that embraces sustainability, ingredient purity, and social and environmental activism. Products are sold in 70,000 retail locations including Kroger, Food Lion, CVS, Walmart, and Target. Mother’s Milk is the best-selling tea on Amazon, according to Founder Drake Sadler.