[Southsider2k12]

http://www.southbendtribune.com/business/s...,0,197782.story

M.C. bakery growing again
By STAN MADDUX South Bend Tribune Correspondent

5:32 a.m. EDT, October 12, 2012
MICHIGAN CITY -- A bakery that churns out cookies and other snack foods for major brands is undergoing another expansion.

Hearthside Food Solutions received approval this week from the Michigan City Board of Zoning Appeals for a more than $6 million expansion of its existing plant at U.S. 20 and Ohio Street on the city's west side.

Hearthside Food Solutions plant manager Bob Wojcik said 8,600 square feet will be added to the current 180,000-square-foot facility.

He said the expansion will allow a new "cracker-based product" to be made for a major customer.

Hearthside Foods spent $4.5 million in 2011 on production space for a new customer, one year after purchasing the Michigan City plant.

Wojcik said last year's expansion created about 90 new jobs, and the upcoming addition of another new product line could add up to 30 skilled factory positions to the existing 425-member work force, he said.

"We couldn't be more thrilled that they continue to invest," said Kevin Kieft, executive director of the Michigan City Economic Development Corp.

Headquartered in Downers Grove, Ill., Hearthside Food Solutions operates 12 manufacturing facilities in seven states and acquired the Michigan City facility in May 2010 as part of its acquisition of McComb, Ohio-based Consolidated Biscuit Company.

The plant formerly known as Michigan City Baking has operated here for about a half century.

So far, Wojcik said, Hearthside Food Solutions has spent more than $6 million on upgrading the equipment and infrastructure to better position the facility for the future.

He said no additional expansions are planned yet but he wouldn't rule out that possibility due to the company's commitment to the Michigan City site.

"They want to invest in this operation here and grow and expand it," said Wojcik.

Hearthside Foods makes baked goods such as cookies, crackers and brownies for major brands regularly seen nationwide on store shelves.

Kieft said the investment in the plant is huge especially during rough economic times and the significance and history of the bakery here.

"It shows the quality of the workers we have here and the quality of the products that are being put out at this location," said Kieft.

[taxthedeer]

Let me share my experience of working at "The Cookie Factory":

I worked at that place part time this past year (striaght midnights usually from 10am to 6am or 10:30pm to 6:30pm). They have a two tiered employment system, the part timers work for their in house temporary employment agency called Impact Employment Solutions (IES) and the full timers are employed by Heathside Food Solutions (HFS).

Some of the job duties I had to perform were relitivly simple but most of them resembled the classic episode of "I Love Lucy" where Lucy Ricardo and Ethel Mertz took job at the local Chocolate Factory and I swear that this crazy named Pat who one supervisors I had to work for was Lucy and Ethel's bosses twin sister:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NPzLBSBzPI

It's a really neat place to work with decent pay if your a full timer and are willing to put in long hours, but for us a part timers we didn't exactly make a boatload of money. Part timers are given $9.70 an hour and were scheduled to work on an as needed basis (some weeks after taxes and insurance I would only bring home a $25.00 paycheck) and their group health care insurance program they offered for both IES and HFS employees really sucked. The HFS employees are covered by United Health Care and us part timers are covered by Transamerica. The company also has several strict rules that must be adhered to which they referred to as "GMPs" which stands for Good Manufacturing Practices.

I usually would get a phone call at 2AM in the morning to come in and work that night starting at 10pm, I would show up and half the time be told something like one of the machines had broke down, or they ran out of a certain ingredient, or we don't have any skids for the product. Many times an order would ran out on another line and all the IES part timers that were scheduled had to be displaced by the HFS full timers from the other line which was bad news for us part timers because this meant all of us unfortunate IES workers would have to turn around and take a long sad ride back home, fortunatly I only live 6 1/2 miles from the plant so it wasn't no big deal because I wasn't getting paid a whole heck of a lot anyways, but for those that had a long commute with the price of gas it was a income losing evening.

There would also be some nights that they would schedule a few of us that lived nearby as what they referred to as "reserves" which meant if they did not have enough HFS full timers show up to cover their lines we would get to be their subsititute, but if they had enough HFS workers to cover their production demnds us IES workers would once again have to say goodnight.

The only way possible that an hourly employee could get promoted from an IES part-time employee to an HFS Full Time employee is to win one of their posted Job Bids, usually when a job bid was posted the company already seemed to have a person in mind for the open position. It was really helpful if you were a family member, close friend or drinking buddy of someone in management or somebody who is already working there. The ability to speak both English and Spanish was also a huge plus. Another thing was that if HFS supervison and management felt there was no one qualified in house for the open position from HFS or IES the job opening would be posted for hire on the outside.

I recall their used to have a Wholesale Store in the front where they used to sell the cookies they made when they were owned by a company called Parko. Somebody told me that they started up in Michigan City in '77 and judging by some of the antiquated equipment I had to operate, that seemed about accurate, I also recall that since I moved here that that place has changed hands a few times, Parko, Michigan City Baking, Consolidated Biscuit and now Hearthside Food Solutions.

They operate four ovens. They now contract with grocery snack food manufaturerscompanies auch as Kraft Foods, General Mills and Keebler.

They currently make with Nutter Butter Cookies and Ritz Bitz Bites Crackers on their peanut butter oven.

The second oven makes the different variety or oreo cookies.

The third oven mostly makes Wheat Thin and Flatbread Crackers and Keebler Grahm Cracker Crumbs (they made a lot of the Grahm Cracker Crubs around the Holidays so people can backe their Thanksgiving and Christmas pies).

The fouth oven puts out those nasty tasting General Mills Fiber One brownies, they run that line on a 12 hour rotating schedule.


I left that place after this past Labor Day and they said that I am more than welcome to come back anytime and make $25 bucks a week.

I wish them well with their expansion.

[diggler]

Let me share my experience of working at "The Cookie Factory":

Interesting. I could smell that place on 20 for miles and miles. Kind of reminds me where I worked once at the Maurice Lenell cookies plant on Harlem while living back in Chicago. I was basically feeding the flour and sugar in those hoppers all damn day. Chicago Tonight had a show on it once:

http://chicagotonight.wttw.com/2011/12/22/taste-nostalgia

_

[JHeath]

...
The fouth oven puts out those nasty tasting General Mills Fiber One brownies, they run that line on a 12 hour rotating schedule.
I left that place after this past Labor Day and they said that I am more than welcome to come back anytime and make $25 bucks a week.

I wish them well with their expansion.

Just curious, do you ever have anything positive to say unless its to your own personal gain or benefit?

[MCRogers1974]

Let me share my experience of working at "The Cookie Factory":

I worked at that place part time this past year (striaght midnights usually from 10am to 6am or 10:30pm to 6:30pm). They have a two tiered employment system, the part timers work for their in house temporary employment agency called Impact Employment Solutions (IES) and the full timers are employed by Heathside Food Solutions (HFS).

Some of the job duties I had to perform were relitivly simple but most of them resembled the classic episode of "I Love Lucy" where Lucy Ricardo and Ethel Mertz took job at the local Chocolate Factory and I swear that this crazy named Pat who one supervisors I had to work for was Lucy and Ethel's bosses twin sister:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NPzLBSBzPI

It's a really neat place to work with decent pay if your a full timer and are willing to put in long hours, but for us a part timers we didn't exactly make a boatload of money. Part timers are given $9.70 an hour and were scheduled to work on an as needed basis (some weeks after taxes and insurance I would only bring home a $25.00 paycheck) and their group health care insurance program they offered for both IES and HFS employees really sucked. The HFS employees are covered by United Health Care and us part timers are covered by Transamerica. The company also has several strict rules that must be adhered to which they referred to as "GMPs" which stands for Good Manufacturing Practices.

I usually would get a phone call at 2AM in the morning to come in and work that night starting at 10pm, I would show up and half the time be told something like one of the machines had broke down, or they ran out of a certain ingredient, or we don't have any skids for the product. Many times an order would ran out on another line and all the IES part timers that were scheduled had to be displaced by the HFS full timers from the other line which was bad news for us part timers because this meant all of us unfortunate IES workers would have to turn around and take a long sad ride back home, fortunatly I only live 6 1/2 miles from the plant so it wasn't no big deal because I wasn't getting paid a whole heck of a lot anyways, but for those that had a long commute with the price of gas it was a income losing evening.

There would also be some nights that they would schedule a few of us that lived nearby as what they referred to as "reserves" which meant if they did not have enough HFS full timers show up to cover their lines we would get to be their subsititute, but if they had enough HFS workers to cover their production demnds us IES workers would once again have to say goodnight.

The only way possible that an hourly employee could get promoted from an IES part-time employee to an HFS Full Time employee is to win one of their posted Job Bids, usually when a job bid was posted the company already seemed to have a person in mind for the open position. It was really helpful if you were a family member, close friend or drinking buddy of someone in management or somebody who is already working there. The ability to speak both English and Spanish was also a huge plus. Another thing was that if HFS supervison and management felt there was no one qualified in house for the open position from HFS or IES the job opening would be posted for hire on the outside.

I recall their used to have a Wholesale Store in the front where they used to sell the cookies they made when they were owned by a company called Parko. Somebody told me that they started up in Michigan City in '77 and judging by some of the antiquated equipment I had to operate, that seemed about accurate, I also recall that since I moved here that that place has changed hands a few times, Parko, Michigan City Baking, Consolidated Biscuit and now Hearthside Food Solutions.

They operate four ovens. They now contract with grocery snack food manufaturerscompanies auch as Kraft Foods, General Mills and Keebler.

They currently make with Nutter Butter Cookies and Ritz Bitz Bites Crackers on their peanut butter oven.

The second oven makes the different variety or oreo cookies.

The third oven mostly makes Wheat Thin and Flatbread Crackers and Keebler Grahm Cracker Crumbs (they made a lot of the Grahm Cracker Crubs around the Holidays so people can backe their Thanksgiving and Christmas pies).

The fouth oven puts out those nasty tasting General Mills Fiber One brownies, they run that line on a 12 hour rotating schedule.
I left that place after this past Labor Day and they said that I am more than welcome to come back anytime and make $25 bucks a week.

I wish them well with their expansion.

Interesting and insightful.

[Ang]

I do pre-employment screening at my company I see a great many resumes from people at the baking company....
The number 1 reason for wanting to leave that place is not enough hours, or inconsistency with the schedules.

[diggler]

I do pre-employment screening at my company I see a great many resumes from people at the baking company....
The number 1 reason for wanting to leave that place is not enough hours, or inconsistency with the schedules.

Either that.....or trying to loose some weight.

[taxthedeer]

Just curious, do you ever have anything positive to say unless its to your own personal gain or benefit?

My leaving will now give someone else the opportunity to rake in the big bucks.

[ChickenCityRoller]

During the summer when there are lots of southern winds, I've smelled the bakery 5-10 miles offshore.

[Southsider2k12]

http://www.nwitimes.com/business/local/mic...993b74b78d.html

Michigan City snack maker expanding, to add up to 51 jobs

An Illinois-based company is moving forward with plans to expand its Michigan City food manufacturing facility and create up to 51 new jobs in LaPorte County by 2016.

Hearthside Holdco LLC, which does business as Hearthside Food Solutions, said last year it planned to spend $6 million to add 8,600 square feet to its existing 180,000 square-foot facility at 502 W. U.S. 20.

But the Indiana Economic Development Corp. said Tuesday it offered Hearthside up to $200,000 in tax credits and up to $100,000 in training grants based on the company's job creation plans. The state agency said the tax credits are performance-based, meaning until people are hired, the company is not eligible to claim incentives. The Michigan City facility employs more than 400 full-time employees and next month, the company expects to hire additional machine operator associates.

The Downers Grove, Ill.-based maker of grain-based snack foods and baked goods will install equipment allowing it to produce a cracker-based product. The equipment is expected to be operational by this spring.

"News like this continues to put Indiana on the map as a state that works for business," said Eric Doden, president of the Indiana Economic Development Corp. "Thanks to our expansive infrastructure combined with the ability to reach 80 percent of the nation's population within a day's drive, Indiana is winning new investment and career opportunities for Hoosiers every day."

Michigan City approved an additional tax abatement at the request of the Michigan City Economic Development Corp.

Hearthside was formed in 2009 and said it is one of nation's largest independent bakeries. It operates 13 facilities in six states and has more than 5,000 employees. The company's product line includes bars, cookies, crackers, granola, pretzels and other baked snack components.

Hearthside acquired the Michigan City facility in May 2010 as part of its acquisition of McComb, Ohio-based Consolidated Biscuit Co. The plant, formerly known as Michigan City Baking, has operated in the city for about 50 years.

The state agency said Hearthside is the most recent food production company to announce expansion plans in the county following American Licorice Co. American Licorice said last month it would invest $10 million to add a new licorice production line at its La Porte facility and create up to 35 new jobs.