Cargill makes sweet, specialist baking expansion with Oregon site
The US food firm will set up a new Integrated Bakery Resources (IBR) facility in Oregon, to open in late August 2012. Its current IBR site in Lake Oswego will be closed and all employees transferred to the new operations.
Ken Ruud, business development leader for Cargill IBR, said the facility will be dedicated to manufacturing breads unique to the market.
“Speciality sweet breads with focus on breakfast and snack/dessert occasions are our current focus,” Ruud told BakeryandSnacks.com, but the firm is also looking into savoury applications.
“We specialise in unique toppings and inclusions and desire to expand capabilities further in these areas,” he said.
“Our focus is on higher complexity items that can be challenging to produce,” he added, for example low bake temperatures and long bake times, nut and seed enrobing for breads, all-natural and organic products or heavy inclusions.
Manufacturing will be focused on fresh products and frozen solutions, he detailed.
Integrated facility
The new facility will “allow us to better provide our bakery industry partners with the specialty items that consumers desire, but are difficult to produce in a high-speed facility,” Ruud said.
The IBR site will help partners expand retail, club and foodservice portfolios, he said, building brand image and sales.
“In addition to the new Tualatin IBR bakery, we will continue to offer customised ‘one-stop shop’ solutions through our knowledge and capabilities in product development, graphics, mixes such as grains, seeds and technical fibres, flour and risk management,” he said.
The Oregon site will house manufacturing, ingredient storage and offices. Cargill’s Integrated Bread Resources business arm carries the brands Oregon Trail Bread, Innkeepers, Oregon Bread and Grain Basket.
