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THE JOY OF SOY SUCCESS.

Article Excerpt
Byline: Joe Mosley The Register-Guard

SPRINGFIELD - Eugene's Turtle Mountain natural foods company took a measured approach nearly two decades ago, when it stepped into a largely undeveloped U.S. market for soy-based ice-cream alternatives.

The company created its own recipes and formed its own brands - which have evolved into the current all natural So Delicious, fruit-sweetened It's Soy Delicious and super-premium Purely Decadent.

But even as it has built itself into the national leader in dairy-free frozen desserts, Turtle Mountain has relied upon others for much of its heavy lifting. A handful of ice cream manufacturers around the country have made its products under "co--production" agreements, and Dreyers Grand Ice Cream distributes its brands under what company officials call a "strategic-type alliance."

Turtle Mountain is now poised for a giant step toward independence.

The company is preparing a 20,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Springfield to begin its own production of So Delicious, It's Soy Delicious and Purely Decadent products sometime in the next month. That follows the start-up of its "sandwich plant" - which produces all of its dairy-free ice-cream sandwiches and other novelty dessert snacks - in a much smaller east Springfield building a year ago.

About 50 new employees will be hired to run the newest plant - where $5 million in specialized mixing, freezing and packaging equipment is being installed.

"We've had severe capacity issues," says Turtle...

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