Frontier expanding operations to North Liberty

Frontier Natural Products Co-op is expanding its operations this spring to North Liberty, where 38 Frontier employees will be located.

The natural and organic products supplier has leased 103,000 square feet of warehouse space  at 2870 Stoner Court North Liberty, near I-80 Exit 4. The facility will supplement  175,000 square feet of warehouse space at Frontier's headquarters location, 3021 78th St., Norway.

The new facility will initially be used for raw material storage. Over the next year, the company will move its cleaning, processing, blending and sterilization departments into it. Five new positions will be added by Frontier during the transition.

“For several years, Frontier's growth has required us to rent public warehousing space over and above the 175,000-square-foot facility in Norway,” said Mike Otter, Frontier's director of operations. “”Finding functional and organically certifiable warehouse space that can accommodate aromatic spices and herbs has always proven to be a difficult task.”

Even after Frontier was able to find a facility that met its specifications, Otter said, the expense and environmental impact of shipping products between the Norway facility and the public warehouse was a concern, and the co-op was experiencing growth that cramped its space in Norway.

Frontier Chief Executive Officer Tony Bedard said the co-op's growth ”is due to both increasing consumer demand for organicproducts and our continued success at adding more of our products onto the shelves of natural food retailers and in the organic sections of larger mainstream retailers.”

The North Liberty facility reduces Frontier's total operating costs and expands the amount of warehouse space it has under its control closer to its headquarters, Otter said.

Frontier's longtime location in Norway will continue to be its headquarters for packaging, distribution and corporate offices. The co-op employs 345 in Norway.