NORWALK — A family owned bakery in Norwalk won a $1 million grant yesterday for energy-efficient upgrades that will help keep 260 workers busy making hamburger buns and English muffins for McDonald's restaurants and other customers.
Gov. Ted Strickland traveled to New Horizons Baking Co. yesterday to announce the award, one of 18 grants totalling $11.8 million made to Ohio companies from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act's State Energy Program. New Horizons owner and chief executive officer Tim Brown gave a tour of the Woodlawn Avenue facility to Strickland, State Sen. Sue Morano and Norwalk Mayor Sue Lesch, as they grabbed a few piping-hot items straight from the conveyor belts for a taste.
"If I worked here, I'd weigh 300 pounds," Strickland said, wearing a hair net and white lab coat, as he sampled the hamburger buns amid the rumble of the conveyor belts, the yeasty aroma of raw dough and gleaming stainless-steel machinery.
The $1 million grant will help finance a $3.7 million project to add an 8,800-square-foot expansion to the plant, which will house baking ovens boasting about 25 percent more energy efficiency than the 42-year-old oven currently in use, Brown said. The energy savings will pay for all the energy used in the plant's proof box, where dough rises in controlled temperature and humidity before being baked, according to Brown.
The present production rate of 4,000 dozen hamburger buns per hour will increase to 5,000 dozen hamburger buns per hour after the project is completed, which is scheduled for June, Brown said.
With facilities in Indiana and Norwalk, and a third planned for Cleveland, 2008 and 2009 were the best years for New Horizons, according to Brown. The company sells baked items to fast food restaurants in seven states, including 50 million dozen hamburger buns to McDonald's restaurants last year, he said.
"We think this economy is a perfect time for opportunity," Brown said. "People have to eat."
Grants were awarded to industries including aerospace, agriculture, motor vehicle parts and food processing as a way to bring Ohio into a leadership role in ecologically friendly technologies, Strickland said.
"This is a fantastic operation," Strickland said after the tour. "This company provides good jobs, 401(k) plans and good health benefits. It's really gratifying to be able to help a company like this grow."
Quality Statement
To achieve the most consistent, highest Quality Product through proven methods of analyzing and reacting to collected data regarding ingredients, processes and food safety and through continuous education and training of staff at all levels.
