BLAINE — During the work week when many company owners are tied to the office, Arran Stephens might be found tending his garden at his home in British Columbia.

It’s not that he doesn’t have enough to do with his cereal company, Nature’s Path. What he’s discovered in decades of running a company, however, is that the job really comes with its own schedule and he makes a point to fit his other passions around it.

“Being an executive is not a 9-to-5 routine; something involving work could strike me at any time,” Stephens said. “It’s important to me to be able to spend some time with other things I enjoy, whether it’s growing food or spending time with my children and grandchildren.”

Much like Stephens’ garden, Nature’s Path has been seeing growth for several years, and Stephens expects it to continue as the company carves a niche in the vast cereal market. By establishing itself in the organic cereal industry before it became a mainstream product, Nature’s Path now competes against companies such as General Mills and Kellogg, currently controlling more than 30 percent of the organic cereal market.

“I’m amazed and grateful that we’ve grown to this level. We believed in the vision, but never dreamed it would get to this scale. But it also makes us a target,” said Stephens. “It really helped that we were far ahead, so we can look at other aspects of the market while others are catching up.”

With the big, national companies interested in organic cereal, Stephens said he’s had “hundreds” of offers to buy the company, but so far he’s refused. Part of it is his desire to keep it a family business, but also to have an independent company in the organic food industry. He wants to make sure the company maintains what he considers a triple bottom line: Being socially responsible, environmentally sustainable and financially viable.

“Organic foods started off as a movement, and it made sense to me that would become mainstream and the big guys would swoop in,” Stephens said. “I didn’t think that would be a bad thing, but I do believe there should be family businesses in this industry.”

Stephens continues to stay focused on growing the company. It recently introduced organic toaster pastries and continues to grow its cereal market. The company is currently looking to add another 20 jobs at the Blaine facility and build another 30,000 square feet of space within the next year. The company is also looking at expanding other facilities.

“At first our goal was to reach $1 million (in sales), then we just kept raising bar,” Stephens said. “Now we’ve reached a point where we don’t set a monetary bar; now it’s more about being a trusted name in households. We’re still a small company in the overall cereal market, but to us it’s a different level now.”

The challenge for the company is maintaining its environmentally friendly ideals while growing. Stephens’ daughter, Jyoti, is the manager of sustainability for the company and has set a goal of having zero waste go to the landfill, having it all recycled.

“It can be difficult finding the time when the company is growing, but fortunately we have people on board who know about our goal,” Jyoti Stephens said. “The biggest issue is recycling all the small things. We’ve been able to tackle the big things that had been going to the landfill.”

The rise of Nature’s Path didn’t come without some bumps in the road. Arran Stephens recalls the early 1990s, when a rapid growth period left the company without enough capital. There was a period where he wasn’t sure he could make payroll.

“It was a terrible time for me. I never wanted to be in that situation,” Stephens said.

One thing he learned from that experience was the value of working with his suppliers. He went to each one and explained the situation and negotiated a payment plan; one even loaned Stephens money that he was able to pay back.

“The key was making sure to at least pay a little each month. Within a year we were able to pay it off,” Stephens said. “There was a temptation at the time to get some outside capital, but we resisted.”

Stephens believes the company will continue its double-digit growth for the next few years, partly because demand for organic food continues to grow in the mainstream market.

“We’re beginning to do more with food service, such as supplying the U.S. military and other areas like airplanes,” Stephens said. “It’s been a journey to get to this point, and it’s been an enjoyable one to this point.”