Javier Perez, production lead, labels bottles of brown sugar simple syrup at Portland Soda Works in Southeast Portland. The company sells its products under the Portland Syrups brand. CEO Dan McLaughlin said incentives the city has offered appear to be more trouble than they're worth, adding to the frustration of operating in Portland: “It’s so complicated. Unless you have a full-time accountant on your team it’s like smoke and mirrors. It’s not intentional. It’s just that nobody really knows what’s the right thing to do.”Dave Killen / The Oregonian
When Portland offered up a new package of tax breaks for businesses in and around downtown last summer, Portland Soda Works CEO Dan McLaughlin thought he saw an opportunity.
His small bottling plant in inner Southeast Portland produces syrups for making cocktails and mocktails, the kind of artisan craftsmanship that defined the city during its Portlandia days a decade ago. His company sells them under the Portland Syrups brand and operates a shop adjacent to its bottling facility.
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