CHUKAR CHERRY CO.

Location: Prosser

Website: www.chukar.com

Founded: 1988

Key Innovation:

The specialty foods producer has touted its minimally processed, regional ingredients for 20 years, although consumers took longer to embrace the trend. Founder and CEO Pamela Montgomery's creative combinations are another draw, says her husband and chief financial officer of the company, J.T. Montgomery. "That's been one of the really exciting things with the business, if you're any kind of foodie," he says. "An idea will pop into someone's head and we'll start playing with it." His personal favorite is Cherry Chipotle BBQ Sauce -- a little heat, with lots of cherry. It works well as a marinade or glaze for pork, chicken and salmon. The company also prides itself on short product cycles, with fresh ingredients ordered at the end of each batch. "We try to minimize the amount of time anything stays on our shelf for any period," says J.T. Montgomery.

Key People:

Pamela Montgomery and her previous husband had a 100-acre cherry orchard in Prosser. When they divorced in 2001, he got the orchard and she got the business, which she had started after noticing there were still cherries on the trees after harvest. She began drying them with a simple home dehydrator, gradually naming, marketing and packaging her line.

Measure of Success:

The company has a store at Seattle's Pike Place Market and at its factory in Prosser. It puts out two catalogs each year, and Chukar Cherry products are carried by REI, Whole Foods, Made In Washington stores and Williams-Sonoma, among other locations. It claims annual sales between $4 million and $5 million -- double those of half a decade ago, says J.T. Montgomery.

Employees: 50

What's Next:

 "In general we are a much smarter company than we were five or six years ago," says CFO Montgomery. "We're going to hit a lot of singles and keep growing a little, year over year."

ERIN BAKER'S WHOLESOME BAKED GOODS

Location: Bellingham

Website: www.bbcookies.com

Founded: 1994

Key Innovation:

Lifelong entrepreneur Erin Baker can claim invention of the "breakfast cookie," a concept she's worked hard to promote. "It's a really catchy term, but it's also a bit confusing," she says. "People treat that type of food as a treat." A believer in whole-foods nutrition, she sweetens her creations with prune puree, organic evaporated cane juice and molasses. Whole-grain oats and egg whites lend complex carbohydrates and protein.

Key People:

Born in Spokane and reared on Orcas Island, Baker worked in her family's retail stores and sold homemade cookies door-to-door for spending money as a child. She waited tables at five-star restaurants in the San Francisco area during her early 20s and ran a pizza parlor and bed-andbreakfast on Whidbey Island after returning to Washington. Her first batch of salable breakfast cookies was created at a rented 4-H kitchen in Langley. Husband Bryan Geschwill serves as general manager and chief financial officer of the company. "His drive and persistence are what's taken it to the next level," says Baker.

Measure of Success:

After weathering the Atkins fad, which drastically decreased her sales from 2004 to 2006, Baker is happy to report her company is profitable and growing. "It's never been a better time to be in the natural and organics market," she says. The company makes 100,000 cookies each day, along with granolas and other offerings. Quaker released its own version of the breakfast cookie in 2005, a move that doesn't daunt Baker. She says hers are nutritionally superior. Plus, the notion that such a large corporation is paying attention bodes well for future buyout offers.