TOMRA Sorting Food boosts foodservice supplier's expansion

Established 40 years ago, the family-run business Mrs. Gerry’s Kitchen now supplies salads and side dishes such as mashed potato to grocery stores, restaurants, universities and healthcare facilities across the US. The business sells more than 15.9 million kilograms of food each year, operating from a 20,000 m² facility in Southern Minnesota which employs more than 200 people.

Mrs. Gerry’s has grown steadily across its lifetime, undertaking nine expansions of its production facility. Two major challenges have faced the company as it has grown: keeping pace with the increasing steam capacity required to produce sufficient quantities of its products to meet demand and running out of production capacity for the more than 120 different products produced by the business.

The latest expansion was designed to enable the company to increase its range of ‘Ready to Eat Refrigerated Entrees’. Chad Vogt, CEO at Mrs. Gerry’s, said the company spent six months researching various peeling solutions for its processing line and toured manufacturing facilities to evaluate steam consumption data before choosing machines from TOMRA Sorting Food.

“We are very familiar with the innovative solutions manufactured by TOMRA, as we have been using their steam peeling machines since 2001, and we recently purchased TOMRA’s Orbit 350 peeler with OBD 6/20 brusher and M01 steam accumulator as part of our expansion plans,” said Vogt.

Productivity into growth

“The Orbit peeler is able to process large quantities of produce with a shorter cycle time while also reducing steam usage, which has led to significant increases in productivity and the reduction of energy costs. We know that we are now using less steam than before and the machine also provides improvements in the uniformity of peeling, which can help to reduce waste,” explained Vogt.

The Orbit peeler uses innovative technology to monitor and send information to the machine’s control panel, ensuring the lowest steam times and the reduction of peel loss to minimal levels.

Vogt concluded: “Shorter cycle times and increased productivity give us the opportunity to focus on continuing to grow our existing business and securing new customers through the development of new product ranges, while maintaining our reputation for high-quality products and remaining profitable.”