About Rivard

Established by Lisa & Mike Rivard in 1989 as a tree removal and trimming service, Rivard Companies quickly established a reputation throughout the Twin Cities as a company which placed a premium on hard work and customer satisfaction. Those efforts paid off with steady growth fueled by positive word of mouth and followed by referrals to several dozen area homebuilders. In 1995, the Rivards received their first large-scale land clearing job for a major residential homebuilder. With a newly-formed crew they cleared land all summer, then split the cleared trees for firewood to deal with the long Minnesota winter.

As the land clearing business grew, so did the amount of wood chips left over at job sites – chips which Lisa & Mike sold to local companies to turn into mulch. Realizing they were missing an opportunity, they purchased a mulch colorizer to create mulch themselves. They had eliminated the middle man and, in 2003, Central Wood Products (CWP) was born. From the beginning, CWP’s goal was to provide customers with a higher-quality mulch than what was offered by the competition. Doubling the amount of color additive and running wood chips through the grinding process twice resulted in a longer-lasting, richer colored mulch. Today, CWP sells a wide selection of natural, colored, and imported mulch.

Later in 2008, the company grew with the introduction of Gronomics, a line of products geared toward the home gardener. What started as a simple idea and a good deal of optimism has borne fruit far beyond Lisa and Mike’s dreams. Rivard Companies has proven that a company driven by customer satisfaction is destined for success.