Solaray

Herbs used to be sold chopped up in paper bags. Jim Beck's obituary credits his company, Solaray, with being the first herbal supplement maker to put them in two-piece capsules instead, and the company was making those capsules in Utah by 1973. Today its lab in Ogden runs up to 15,000 tests a month, according to Solaray.

The company began as Solar Products, Inc. and was incorporated in Utah as Solaray the next year. Its early specialty was blending two or more herbs with complementary effects, and its later parent called Solaray "a pioneer in formulating and marketing blended herbal products." The habit survives in Heart Blend SP-8, which puts seven plants, from hawthorn berry to shepherd's purse, in one capsule.

By 1984 Solaray had added vitamins and minerals. In 1990 it used Utah Department of Agriculture funds to work with the chemistry department at Weber State on products made from whey, which is one way to get a cheese byproduct into the vitamin aisle. In 1993 it became the first acquisition of Nutraceutical, and a 1997 retailer survey named Solaray the top-selling supplement brand. Its St. John's Wort was the best-selling herbal product in the same survey.

Solaray was already based in Ogden when Nutraceutical bought it, and the manufacturing stayed. Nutraceutical leased a group of buildings there in 1998 and bought them in 2006 for $4.2 million, with about 410,000 square feet on 19.2 acres once converted. Solaray now describes its facility as 650,000 square feet, which is a lot of building for products that mostly fit in a capsule.

The company says its scientists test raw materials themselves instead of relying on supplier paperwork, and that it screens most contaminants down to 10 parts per billion. It lists more than 580 test protocols. Its magnesium glycinate, for example, is chelated in-house with nothing but magnesium, glycine, heat and water, the company says.

In September 2023 the company recalled about 85,300 bottles of Solaray liposomal multivitamins because the pills contain iron and the bottles were not child-resistant. Buyers were offered a refund or the same product with a new lid. Ownership has moved as well. In December 2025 a group of investors led by Snapdragon Capital Partners bought Better Being Co., the Utah company that owns Solaray, and earlier investor HGGC sold its remaining stake.

Solaray is sold in more than 85 countries now. On its own site the brand still sets two short lines side by side: Born in 1973. Made in Utah.