Tribe 9 News
On a Growth Track
Area residents may be familiar with RP’s Pasta, Yumbutter, and Ona, but wasn’t until 2017 that the three entrepreneurial food companies joined under one umbrella known as Tribe 9 Foods LLC. Since then, the Madison-based company has quietly established itself as a player in the healthier food manufacturing space.
B Corps use business as a force for good
Becoming a B Corp has helped Tribe 9 Foods, Madison, Wis., bolster its mission of improving lives through healthy foods. Chairman and chief executive officer Brian Durst launched the company four years ago as a platform for creating more nutritious products.
Tribe 9 offers a range of functional and better-for-you foods through its own portfolio of brands, which includes gluten-free and fresh pasta makers Taste Republic, RP’s Pasta and Carla’s Pasta, and nut butter brand Yumbutter. It also makes products for emerging brands in the natural foods space as a co-manufacturer.
Tribe 9 teams with MGE on Fitchburg Solar Farms
Madison Gas and Electric has completed work on Dane County’s largest solar farm to date, which will provide clean energy to local governments and businesses.
MGE President Jeff Keebler said the $31.7 million O’Brien Solar Fields in Fitchburg demonstrates that the utility can work with customers to reduce carbon emissions in a cost-effective way.
MGE has contracts with the state of Wisconsin, UW-Madison, the city of Fitchburg and local businesses Placon Corp., Promega Corp., Tribe 9 Foods and the Willy Street Co-op to buy the project’s energy output.
Madison-based Tribe 9 Foods adding to its brand lineup with $26.3M acquisition
Madison-based Tribe 9 Foods is adding another brand to its slate of products as it finalizes the purchase of Carla’s Pasta.
Tribe 9 acquired Connecticut-based Carla’s Pasta through a bankruptcy auction. Becoming the third Tribe 9 brand to manufacture pasta, Carla’s Pasta specializes in specialty pastas, such as ravioli with various filling.
“I’m really excited about the combination of products and capabilities that Carla’s has developed in traditional pastas with our leadership in nontraditional pastas,” CEO Brian Durst said.
How Tribe 9 Eases Make-Or-Buy Decision For Growing Food Brands
One of the most difficult steps for food and beverage entrepreneurs who experience initial success is the decision whether to scale up output of their own stuff or to grow by contracting out production to an existing manufacturer. Brian Durst has been building his own startup, Tribe 9 Foods, by providing a third, sort of hybrid path: a food maker that understands the manufacturing challenges and other aspects of building a brand because it also has some small food brands of its own.
How Tribe 9 Foods Lives Its Mission
In 2017, with dedication and commitment of five entrepreneurs, Tribe 9 Foods was founded in Madison, Wisconsin, when three fast-growing companies merged. RP’s Pasta, Yumbutter, and Ona came together to combine their unique and diverse skills, with the fundamental belief they could make great products and make the world better. A new, innovative specialty food manufacturing company was born with the intention to use business as a force for good.
Madison businesses use B Corp certification to prove positive social, environmental impacts
Tribe 9 Foods, which was founded about three and a half years ago after the merger of Madison-based RP’s Pasta Company and Yumbutter and Colorado-based Ona Foods, became a Certified B Corp in 2018. The mission of B Corp aligned with the mission of each of those companies, Tribe 9 CEO Brian Durst said.
“We brought these businesses together to do all of the things that we wanted to do better,” Durst said. “We were all good at different things and wanted to be able to execute better and take on more and execute big goals.”
RP’s Pasta, Yumbutter and Ona Merge Under Tribe 9
One of natural food’s newest parent-brand companies is adding to its tribe. Tribe 9 Foods announced this week that it will now house RP’s Pasta Company, Yumbutter and Ona under its company umbrella. The company raised $2 million in growth capital from Natural Food Partners, LLC in addition to the merger funds.