Zumbro River Brand makes food to the specifications of customers

By Sarah Kirchner, AlbertLeaTribune.com

Those wondering how products similar to Cheerios and Cheetos are made need look no further than Zumbro River Brand, which has an expanded plant in Albert Lea&8217;s Northaire Industrial Park.

Zumbro River Brand, which formed in Owatonna and expanded to Albert Lea in 2006, has three main parts: extrusion, agglomeration and packaging. The company is a contract food manufacturer that makes parts and complete food products to customer specifications and then package them.

The company specializes in gluten-free cereals and pasta, said President Pam Sander, which in most cases aren&8217;t made by major brands. The company also specializes in organic and weight-loss or body-building products that have a high protein content. These products have smaller production volumes.

&8220;Just if you want to do something a little different, that&8217;s kind of what we do,&8221; Sander said.

The company&8217;s customers come from across the United States and some in Canada, she said. Customers are attracted through trade shows, word of mouth and relationships.

Extrusion is the process by which pasta, snacks and cereals &8212; such as Cheetos and Cheerios &8212; as well as the tiny crisps that make up protein and nutrient bars, are made

The process starts upstairs with blending. The material is dropped into the extruder, mixed with water and made into a dough. It then goes through a section with two screws that work the dough. Pressure pushes the product through a die plate that forms the shape &8212; such as a circle or rice-shape. It then reaches atmospheric pressure and expands. The piece is cut off and sent through a drier where it is cooled to room temperature and packaged into bulk bags or boxes.

Zumbro River Brand can flavor dry products such as cereals and snacks. Sometimes the flavor is a liquid sprayed on, and sometimes flavor is applied with oil and a shaker &8212; all industrial sized. Special coloring or nutrients can also be added to products.

At 12,000 pounds per hour, the extruder can run projects for a few hours to several days, depending on the size of the project, said Executive Vice President Jim Fischer. The extruder is cleaned thoroughly after every project.

Another service Zumbro River Brand offers is agglomeration. Batch agglomeration makes powders that stir into liquid without clumping, such as instant hot chocolate or tea. The process takes a fine powder and agglomerates it into larger particles. Sander said the company can take a lot of things and stick them together, such as proteins, flavors and vitamins.

Finally, Zumbro River Brand packages the products it makes. It does medium to small runs and can package samples, individual packs or cereal box sizes. However, the packaging part of Zumbro River Brand&8217;s Albert Lea operation has been delayed.

The company started in Owatonna, but Sander said she saw the need for more space so in August 2006 it purchased space in Albert Lea.

&8220;It&8217;s really a good location with both of the interstates crossing there, and it was relatively convenient to our other employees working in Owatonna,&8221; Sander said.

The company had to retrofit the building and for a year was renovating. Last winter, she said, the company added 10,000 square feet to the 8 1/2 acre site. Agglomeration began in August 2007 and extrusion started up this January.

The Owatonna plant runs around the clock five days a week, Sander said, and that&8217;s probably what the Albert Lea plant will do.

The Albert Lea location has 15 people working there already, and the Owatonna plant has just over 30, Fischer said. The extrusion process doesn&8217;t take many people, but the jobs are skilled. The packaging process needs more hands working.

Sander and her husband, Eugene, previously owned two other companies within the same industry. Innovative Food Processors, started in 1981 by Eugene, focused on agglomeration, blending and packaging dry foods. Zumbro, Inc., started by Sander in 1983, focused on the ingredients side of the business.

Zumbro River Brand started as a research and development project for other businesses, and also performed some rehabilitation of agglomeration equipment to be sold. In the past, Sander said, the companies had done agglomeration but never extrusion.

Zumbro River Brand existed alongside Zumbro and Innovative Food Processors until 2000 when Sander and Eugene sold the businesses to retire. However, Sander said Eugene got bored and decided to start again but in a different direction &8212; production.

Once Zumbro River Brand started up again, Sander said for a while the company made its own market products. However, it came back to manufacturing for other brands and markets shortly there after.

&8220;We don&8217;t do anything but manufacture it. We develop and manufacture it, that&8217;s what we do,&8221; Sander said.

In 2002, Zumbro River Brand purchased a twin screw extruder, which is located in Albert Lea, and can now develop and create specialty extruded and high protein food items.

Sander said the same things are done in Owatonna as Albert Lea.

The whole city has been very welcoming to the new location in Albert Lea, Sander said.

&8220;We just really like the community, and the professional people in the area have been very supportive. It&8217;s really been a good move I think,&8221; she said. &8220;Albert Lea has a background of food processing, so it&8217;s consistent with the strengths of the area already.&8221;