Page 56 - Southern Oregon Magazine Winter 2018

neck of the woods | in the biz

awesome mix of small town life with easy access to the outdoors, and
the logistics [of business] are easy.” The location has also been a plus in
building his outstanding team, he adds. “Staff tend to be here because they
want to be here.” They’ve worked hard to build a company culture that’s
put them on The Oregonian’s list of Top 100 Places to Work for the past
two years.

“We’ve spent a lot of time building the culture we’ve got,” says Bernard,
and attributes that to the time and attention they give to keeping their core
values central to their daily operations. Their 150 coworkers are cross-
trained not only to work on the various products made in their newly
expanded facility, but also in direct and open feedback with each other,
and in the freedom they have to get the job done. “As long as we agree on
end goals, we give freedom to get that done.” Put simply, says Bernard,
“We hire adults and then trust them to act like it.”

For their new product line, Bernard is excited to see it move forward.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do with the products we’ve just launched.”
And their strategy remains as focused as the knife edges they produce: “We
want to do better tomorrow than we’re doing today.”

Work Sharp Culinary
210 E. Hershey St., Ashland
800-597-6170
www.WorkSharpCulinary.com
54 www.southernoregonmagazine.com | winter 2018