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The Brooklyn neighborhood in Southeast Portland is quintessential Oregon: large turn-of-the-century homes surrounded by the typical and almost unavoidably abundant northwest gardens. But the blooming roses are not the only thing residents get a whiff of now and then; the seductive aroma of oregano, rosemary, garlic, sage, or basil might overcome any unsuspecting pedestrian.
The smell is nearly intoxicating when you enter the Oregon Spice Company’s retail shop or warehouse at the edge of this residential neighborhood. While the neighbors have probably not noticed much change in the company since it opened twenty-one years ago, Patty Boday ’80 (Romance Languages) has been at the helm as the new company president since she and her father Larry Black ’52 (Business) purchased it in February of 1998.
Oregon Spice distributes spice mixes as well as straight spices to local food processors and manufacturers such as Yoshida’s, Harry’s Fresh Foods, Piazza Pizza, and Sattwa Chai, as well as to a few international clients. “People come to us because they want their product pre-blended. It gives consistency, it saves them on labor, and, therefore, it facilitates them being able to do what they do well,” says Boday.
But Boday never studied business in college, leaning more towards the arts. After one year studying drama at Whittier in Southern California, the campus felt too small and life in that part of the state isolating without a car. As an alternative, her parents presented an opportunity that had not entered the eighteen-year-old’s mind: to study abroad. She spent the following year in France studying the language and culture, after which she continued her study of romance languages at the University of Oregon.
“Languages came a lot easier than computer science,” says Boday. Maybe it’s in the family genes, considering both her mother and grandmother also studied French in college. Boday focused primarily on French Language and literature but also Spanish.
“I really enjoyed the University of Oregon,” says Boday. “I found it to be a school where anybody could find something that they like and find their niche.” She remembers Professor Desroches as someone who helped her find a home in the romance languages—a thread that now weaves through a career which maintains a worldly flavor.
Instead of entering the travel industry as she had envisioned, she joined a friend who was opening a food distribution center. “I ended up working in outside sales which led me into the food arena for the majority of my career.” Subsequent career moves took her to Kraft and, most recently, Nabisco, where she worked for almost ten years.
“My father has a real passion for cooking and for food. So when he read an article about the Oregon Spice Company, he explored the opportunity,” says Boday, “He also saw it as a growth opportunity, both personally and professionally, for me.”
With no formal background in business, Boday found she had a lot to learn from the very beginning. But she draws on her prior experience working with large companies, taking the good and leaving the bad. “My personal philosophy does not necessarily mesh with that of corporate America and yet I learned a lot from having that experience,” she says. “I was fortunate enough to work for companies in which we had a lot of training opportunities. It’s really important that people continue to grow.”
Boday encourages this element of growth and development in her employees now, too. By the end of her time with Nabisco, Boday felt expendable and anonymous. So with her own employees, she takes a particular pride in recognizing their capabilities and treating them as individuals. “It’s helping promote them personally and professionally that is really exciting,” she says. “As our business grows, we’ll watch them grow as well. Nothing can be more gratifying.”
Boday continues to grow into her role as president by drawing heavily on the resources around her, especially the experience of her colleagues. But, in an office scattered with books, Boday recognizes the need to look outside for support as well, acknowledging her local business group, The Oregon Forum. “We meet to become more informed about what is happening in our community and we utilize our experience to educate and help each other make good decisions,” she says.
In addition, Boday also communicates with her father almost daily, whom she describes as a “proactive” and “visionary” businessman. “Working together has given us the opportunity to grow closer,” she says. “I have a great deal of respect for him.”
While Black, the company’s chair, doesn’t maintain a presence in the office, Boday’s fifteen-year-old daughter is hanging around the warehouse more often these days, and experimenting in the kitchen as well. In her second year of high school, Mika—whose name means ‘beautiful fragrance’ in Japanese—has decided she might like to get a taste for the business, too.
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