TERAGREN LLC

Location: Bainbridge Island

Website: www.teragren.com

Founded: 1994

Key Innovation:

One of the first to harvest rapidly renewable bamboo columns for use in high-grade flooring, paneling and veneers, Teragren also seeks to mitigate the impacts of its manufacturing. Sawdust produced in the company's factories gets fed into the boilers. Packaging materials are recycled and recyclable. Even the trucking company it uses, ABF Freight System Inc., toes the ecofriendly line.

Key People:

A serial entrepreneur, CEO David Knight has delved into many industries, including business consulting and brokerage, land development and real estate, mining and leather work. Teragren is his fifth start-up. His wife, Ann Knight, is co-founder, executive vice president and marketing director. Yang Lin, co-founder and vice president, oversees the manufacturing process in China. "I've had a passion for the environment since the '60s," says Knight.

Measure of Success:

Teragren is recognized by consumers and peers as an industry leader, with product placement in 4,000 North American stores. Revenues increased 40 percent in 2007.

Employees: 19 on Bainbridge Island, 500 in China

ORGANIC TO GO FOOD CORP.

Location: Seattle

Website: www.organictogo.com

Founded: 2004

Key Innovation:

With the tide of consumer choice flowing steadily toward organic products (sales have grown 20 percent or more annually since 1996, according to ConsumerReports.org), making pesticide-free meals available on demand was a smart move. Organic To Go founder and CEO Jason Brown describes his catering and café business as any successful entrepreneur would. "We're a company that delivers on our promise that we will show up on time in a professional format and deliver delicious food and provide the best service we possibly can."

Key People:

Brown, 50, has been creating companies since he was 19. He built a cotton clothing company in the '70s and '80s and a nutrition company in 2000 that was sold in 2003 to Drugstore.com.

Measure of Success:

"We aggressively wanted to grow from inception," says Brown. As of mid-January, the company owned 23 cafes in Washington and California, most of which were acquired - and was building three more. There are Organic To Go stations at hospitals, universities and major corporations in both states. In February 2007, the company went public. Brown estimates it earned $16 million in revenue last year.

Employees: 295

BADGER MOUNTAIN LLC (VINEYARD);
BADGER MOUNTAIN INC. (WINERY)

Location: Kennewick

Website: www.badgermtnvineyard.com

Founded:

Longtime orchardist Bill Powers moved his family in 1982 to Kennewick from Othello to start a vineyard on 80 acres in the Columbia Valley. He sold his grapes to Chateau Ste. Michelle from 1985 until 1987, when he decided to "give organic growing a whirl," says son Greg Powers (above). The family started producing wine under the Badger Mountain label in 1988 and was the first vineyard to be certified organic by the Washington State Department of Agriculture in 1990.

Key Innovation:

"We've been through the times when it was tough selling organic wine and now that it's going so good, we've got our foot in the door already," Greg Powers notes. Badger Mountain's $15 Organic Merlot 2000 was singled out in the Spring 2004 issue of Wine & Health magazine as the overall healthiest among 30 lab-tested labels.

Key People:

Owner Bill Powers was involved in traditional agriculture most of his life, using pesticides and other chemicals. After witnessing the declining health of his peers, Greg Powers says. "He was a little leery of exposing myself and other workers in the vineyard." Greg is president, part-owner and winemaker. Tim DeCook, a retired anesthesiologist, is part-owner, and Mickey Dunne manages sales.