commissary INSIDER - July 2016 - (Page 1)

Insight Insider Insight Insider Equipment Mrs. Gerry's Flexibility with depositors Food Safety Corrugated packaging vs. reusable plastic containers Product Category Spotlight Fully cooked meats Insight Insider: Mrs. Gerry's builds room to grow By Ryan Atkinson rs. Gerry's has long been known in the Midwest region for making high-quality products - salads, to be specific - that offered consistent taste, quality and reliability. The Albert Lea, MN-based company started in 1973 by producing potato salads and coleslaw in a relatively small 1,100-square-foot space. M The company expanded multiple times over the next few decades before the addition of side dishes spurred a major growth within the company in the mid2000s. That growth led to a dilemma just a few years ago. "We wanted to go after some of the larger national foodservice accounts," Technology High pressure pasteurization Research and development Hard-boiled eggs says Mrs. Gerry's CEO Chad Vogt. "There's not a lot of capacity in our industry for sides, so we decided we wanted to try to fill in those gaps." That meant additional production space needed to be added. Adding on Mrs. Gerry's salel of side dishes was outgrowing its square-footage. New space was needed regardless, but a call had to be made. "We were at a point with our side dishes where capacity was an issue for us" says Brenda Donahe-Stevens, director of sales and marketing for the company. "Our consideration needed to be: do we add on just enough to take care of our capacity issues, or do we grow this even more to help out others in the industry?" The result was a new 93,600 square feet of production space that was completed in the fall of 2015. The addition houses the production of side dishes like mashed potatoes, pasta products, gravies and others. PHOTO: MRS. GERRY'S "We're using the same processes, we just have newer equipment and technologies," says Vogt. "It gives us the same quality product we've always had with the capability to make even more. We're looking at mixtures of all our products to see how else we can utilize our equipment." commissary INSIDER * JULY 2016 * 1

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of commissary INSIDER - July 2016

commissary INSIDER - July 2016
Insight Insider: Mrs. Gerry’s builds room to grow
Yes, there is a Mrs. Gerry
Food Safety: Corrugated packaging vs. reusable plastic containers (Part 1 of 2)
Equipment: Flexibility with depositors
Product Category Spotlight: Cooked, cured meats
Technology: High pressure pasteurization
Research and development: Hard-boiled eggs: the next big thing for graband- go snacking

commissary INSIDER - July 2016