Portland nut butter maker Wild Friends Foods is shutting down.
Online sales of the products concluded last week and any inventory sold in stores is expected to run out in the next 30 to 60 days, said co-founder Keeley Tillotson.
Tillotson and co-founder Erika Welsh made the decision to shut down in collaboration with the company’s largest shareholder, a large West Coast nut butter manufacturer.
Wild Friends had sold the majority stake to the nut butter manufacturer in 2020, just weeks before Covid-19 pandemic shutdowns. The move was meant to integrate Wild Friends manufacturing with the co-packer and bring down costs. The manufacturer, which Tillotson did not name, makes nut butter for large businesses nationwide.
“They invested and we got better pricing,” Tillotson said. “Then, this year that business had a variety of other goals unrelated to Wild Friends. We collectively decided to wind down.”
Tillotson and Welsh started Wild Friends in 2011 while the pair were still in college at University of Oregon. Over the last 13 years they have sold $38 million in nut butter, said Tillotson.
The company never hit profitability and by 2018 they were struggling with growth. At the same time the industry was starting to change as private label sales grew and consumers weren’t as focused on specific brands.
At its height, Wild Friends had 15 employees, but in 2019 the team started paring down as they looked for an integration partner, said Tillotson. It now has a team of three, including Welsh.
Tillotson left the company in 2020 but has remained on the board and consulting.
“We started this company when we were 18 and 19, we have grown up with this company,” said Tillotson. “It’s taught us so much and the people involved have taught us so much.”
Between the lessons learned, the network created, products sold and people employed, Tillotson sees Wild Friends as a success.
“The biggest success of all of this is that Erika and I are still best friends,” she added.
The company came up during a period of startup hype when venture capital money was more free flowing and the focus was on raising funding rounds. Profitability and sustainable business models had fallen out of fashion.
"Raising money and growth was so hyped as success. Our first business success was 'Shark Tank,'" she said. "Closing a deal was synonymous with success."
In total, Wild Friends raised $5.5 million from investors, the last infusion was in 2018 for $3.5 million. They appeared on “Shark Tank” in May 2012, when the company was called Wild Squirrel Nut Butter.
Since she stopped working full time with Wild Friends Tillotson has co-founded the consulting firm Lumo Group. The firm works with mission-driven businesses on strategic planning, finance and capital strategy, succession planning and alternative ownership advising.
Tilloston works with clients who are early in their business and helps them plan for the long term instead of looking at business as how to get from one million-dollar funding round to the next, she said.
“I didn’t have an adviser who thought that way — let's build a business that exists for 30, 50, 100 years,” she said. “What excites me now is working with leaders and founders who are building sustainable companies and want to be in it for the long term, and maybe fundraising is a part of that (but not the end goal).”
Welsh plans to stay in sales and marketing in the natural food industry once Wild Friends is done.
