CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA — Red Star Yeast Co. broke ground on an expansion for its manufacturing plant in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, earlier this year. It is expected to be complete at the end of 2022. The expansion will add the facility’s tenth fermenter and other supporting equipment.
“We are expanding in response to growing markets in health and nutrition but equally important as a commitment to supply our customers in mature markets like baking," said Tom Benner, president and chief executive officer, Lesaffre Yeast Corp., Red Star's parent company. “Red Star is committed to continuing to provide world-class reliability and service that customers have come to expect from us.”
With business growing for the company’s health and nutrition markets, including human and animal nutrition, ethanol and yeast extract, Red Star’s manufacturing capabilities had reached capacity. This new expansion will add the capacity needed to support these markets and the company’s bakery customers.
Red Star operates two yeast manufacturing plants in the United States in Dothan, Ala., and Cedar Rapids. The facility in Iowa is a joint venture of Lesaffre and ADM, which opened in 2005 with six yeast fermenters. This is the fourth expansion at Cedar Rapids.
Lesaffre supplies the North American baking industry with yeast and ingredients, including Red Star fresh yeast and Saf-instant dry yeast. The Milwaukee-based company is a part of the Lesaffre Group, based in Lille, France.