Why Spartanburg?

The site search for this facility was interesting, to say the least.

“We knew we had to grow,” Stu said. “The plan still is to have three plants, the one in Northbrook and new ones in the West and East.”

Originally focused on the West coast, the Rosens had difficulty finding what they wanted, even after a year of searching.

“We got close to signing a long-term lease on one site, but we agreed we were making that choice only because it was the ‘best of available’ locations,” Stu said. “But it wasn’t ‘home’ — a place that spoke to us.”

They went back to their search specialist, CBRE Food Facilities Group, a real estate company focused on the needs of the food industry. They asked for recommendations on the Top 5 sites nationwide, forgoing their earlier geographic limits. Right before Thanksgiving 2011, CBRE came in with a building formerly occupied by a succession of frozen food processors. It was recently bought by an independent investor.

“Technically, the location was not on the market, but CBRE heard rumors that the owner wanted to sell and sell quickly,” Stu recalled.

“We came out, looked at the building, evaluated its features and price,” he continued. “We asked ourselves, ‘Why would this not work for us?’ and could not come up with negatives. It really fit our needs well.”

Jim observed, “Bakeries thrive in big, sturdy buildings.” That’s what Highland found first at Northbrook and now at Spartanburg.

Highland managers looked carefully at the physical site, built in stages between the 1950s and 2000s, and at the community. They found a business-friendly environment in South Carolina along with attractive state and federal incentives.

“This is also a region of relatively high unemployment, and people here are looking for solid jobs,” Stu said.

All told, just 30 days separated first sight from final close. Things happened just that quickly.

“It had most of the infrastructure we needed already in place,” Jim said.

Because it had been a food plant, it had drains, employee lockers and changing rooms, a freezer, and docks in place.

“The only hindrance was that we had to pull out much of the existing equipment,” he added. Other than the freezer, Highland didn’t keep any of the old equipment.

“The West coast is still a continuing project for us,” Stu noted, “but we have to find the right property offering the best value to us.”

Equipment decisions, start up

Highland managers wanted to get the new location up and running quickly, a need that dictated the equipment choices and production philosophy.

First, they decided what products would be made.

“Then, based on what we knew about the equipment and what we already had at Northbrook, we made our choices of bakery equipment,” Stu explained. “For example, we put in the same ovens, mixers and dividers. Every equipment manufacturer that supplied Spartanburg has been with us on the two newest lines at Northbrook.

“We wanted to replicate what we have in Northbrook. We seek to be conservative but within an aggressive growth position.”

Jim added, “What we did with respect to equipment helped us to get up and running faster.”

Boris Golenson, the company’s head of engineering, served as coordinator of the project and managed the installation.

“We met the startup goals pretty well,” Jim observed. The plan was to be up and running in nine months, November 2012, and Highland achieved that stage early. The bakery started actual shipments in late October. This was done customer by customer. As each came in to approve the product, Spartanburg started shipping it. All approvals were done by the end of November.

The two bakeries differ a bit but not in major ways.

“Northbrook has more experience built in,” Stu noted, “and Spartanburg has interesting experience from outside the organization.” Northbrook does nearly all the product development work, directed by Steve Barnhart, Spartanburg plant manager. With him now at the new facility, the Rosens expected more of those projects might be shared between the bakeries.