XanGo feels squeeze of rapid growth, will add 2 buildings

LEHI -- In October 2004 a young company named XanGo LLC -- maker of the dietary supplement beverage XanGo -- moved its corporate headquarters from Draper to the Thanksgiving Point Business and Retail Park in Lehi to better facilitate its rapid growth. The 60,000- square-foot building was supposed to meet the company's needs for the immediate future, but plans soon changed.

By the end of 2004, it became evident to XanGo officials that the company needed more room to grow. When the company relocated to Lehi, it had purchased 25 acres of undeveloped land adjacent to its new headquarters to accommodate future growth.

Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. and Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff joined XanGo founders, local dignitaries and some 600 distributors for the groundbreaking of two new 100,000-square-foot buildings adjacent to the company's corporate headquarters on Friday.

"We congratulate XanGo and its employees on their success that will culminate in the major expansion of their corporate headquarters in Utah," Huntsman said. "The rapid growth of XanGo speaks volumes about the quality of the company, its leadership, product and workforce."

XanGo employed 14 people when it started operations in November 2002 and currently employs more than 400, many of whom attended Friday's ceremony.

"Our growth continues to outpace even our most ambitious projections," XanGo CEO Gary Hollister said. The recent expansion has only accelerated the company's master plan, which includes the eventual addition of at least one more building, he said.

The beverage does not require Food and Drug Administration approval because it falls under the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994, which was sponsored by Sen. Orrin Hatch, R- Utah. The act formally defined "dietary supplement" and established regulations regarding safety and labeling requirements.

XanGo, a combination of the words "xanthones" and "mangosteen," is a dietary supplement fruit beverage that contains a rare tropical fruit called mangosteen. The fruit grows in tropical regions of the world with large amounts of rainfall. An abundant amount of mangosteen is grown in Southeast Asia. The mangosteen tree takes 10 years to mature, can grow to 80 feet tall and can producing thousands of fruits per year. Mangosteen is rich in xanthones, natural chemicals that are reported to have many health-related benefits.

XanGo's partner company, WILD Flavors Inc., harvests the rare fruit used in XanGo's product.

XanGo currently has operations in the U.S., Canada, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Mexico, the Philippines, Puerto Rico and Trinidad and Tobago.

BMA-Hogan Construction was awarded the development project, and construction is expected to be done by spring 2006.

E-mail: [email protected]

Copyright C 2005 Deseret News Publishing Co.
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.