16 Cover Story

Sauerkraut Success Story

GLK Foods processes 140,000 tons of raw cabbage into 105,000 tons of sauerkraut
each year between its facilities in Bear Creek, Wisconsin and Shortsville, New York,
and the company has recently expanded beyond its signature product.

O
n a sunny September weekday, In 2014, the company introduced the
trucks loaded to the brim with OH SNAP! Pickling Co. line of single-serve
freshly harvested cabbage arrive on refrigerated pickles, and earlier this year
the regular to offload their haul at the GLK expanded the OH SNAP! lineup to include
Foods facility in Bear Creek, Wisconsin pickled carrot sticks and pickled green
— the surest sign that it is, indeed, peak beans. GLK plans to launch a line of
sauerkraut season. roasted chickpeas under the GoBitos brand
From late-August through early name, in multiple flavors, in November

Photo courtesy of GLK Foods

November, this is standard operating 2016.
procedure for GLK Foods. Each year, the Food Manufacturing had the opportunity
company processes 140,000 tons of raw to tour the Bear Creek facility and visit
cabbage into 105,000 tons of sauerkraut with GLK Foods President Ryan M. Downs,
between its facilities in Bear Creek and who represents the fourth-generation of
Shortsville, New York, making it the world’s the company’s family ownership. During
largest producer of sauerkraut. that conversation — and via some follow-
The company, which traces its roots up correspondence — Downs discussed
back to 1900 when a pair of brothers the company’s history, operations,
started Flanagan Brothers in Bear products and more. (Editor’s note: some
Creek, produces a number of top-selling responses have been edited for clarity and Ryan M. Downs, President, GLK Foods
sauerkraut brands on the market, including concision.)
Silver Floss, Krrrrisp Kraut, Cortland Valley, And it actually originally didn’t start as
Saverne, Kissling’s and Willie’s. Beyond Food Manufacturing: What can you tell a sauerkraut business. What they were
its retail line, GLK also supplies product to us about the company’s history? doing was basically fresh market cabbage
food manufacturers and foodservice and that they were sending by rail, when the
private label customers. Ryan M. Downs: (The Wisconsin) part of railroad used to back right up behind the
And GLK Foods has recently moved the business, which was originally called main processing area (at the Bear Creek
beyond its signature product. Flanagan Brothers, was founded in 1900. facility) … They would ship fresh cabbage
November/December 2016 n
 www.foodmanufacturing.com 17

Heads of raw cabbage are tumbled

Photo by Jesse Osborne

and washed to remove dirt, and
employees remove excess green
outer wrapper leaves before the
cabbage is conveyed to large
shredding blades and made into slaw
at the Bear Creek, Wisconsin facility
of GLK Foods. The Bear Creek facility
has the ability to process 1,200 tons
of raw cabbage in a day.

Photo by Jesse Osborne

on blocks of ice on rail cars down to
Chicago. And that was how this part of the
business started … Maybe a decade in or
so, they had a glut of cabbage and no home
for it, so they decided to grind it up into
kraut, and that’s how we got into the kraut
business.
And then out East, our Shortsville,
New York plant, I believe that was maybe
founded in 1910, I want to say, and that
was the Empire State Pickling company
is how it started. And it was its own kraut
operation. And then there was some
consolidation that happened out East, and
we were kind of competitors throughout the
20th century, really. Lakes Kraut until 2010 when we changed a certain acid level, and it plateaus. We
… We went through kind of a round the name to GLK Foods, just kind of as an don’t want to hold it in the tank any more
of consolidation in the 1990s where we indication we’re going to be doing things than a year. You could, but we don’t have
bought up a number of competitors and other than kraut. any reason to. It’s nice in that regard. Our
then actually formed a joint venture with cheapest form of inventory is to keep it in
what was, at that time, Agrilink Foods, FM: Can you give us a sense of the GLK our tanks.
which became Birds Eye Foods, and that operation/yearly cycle for sauerkraut … We would try and carry a little
was born out of the Empire State Pickling production? safety stock into maybe the third week
Company side of the business, if you of September (the following year) or
will. In 1997, after a few rounds of RMD: The (cabbage) crop comes in in kind something like that, just in case the
consolidation here in Wisconsin and the of a set time (August-November), but we’re cabbage comes on a little late (the next
Midwest, we decided to form a joint different than a traditional cannery in that season). You just don’t want to find yourself
venture with that Eastern end of the we are producing all year round. So that without. And then you just kind of hold
operation and run it as Great Lakes Kraut (sauerkraut) doesn’t need to make it into some back in the tanks so that you can
from 1997 until 2003. In 2003, Agrilink, a can or a bag or a jar or a barrel or a tote divert it where needed … It cycles perfectly.
which owned the other half of Great Lakes right when it comes in off the field, because It’s supposed to, let’s put it that way.
Kraut, was purchased by a private equity it holds in the (facility’s holding tanks).
group … When (the private equity group) When it’s warm like this (in September) and FM: Can you describe the sauerkraut
bought (Agrilink), they either wanted to the field temps are higher, that kraut can production process at a GLK facility?
own all of the joint venture, or none of it. ferment out in ten days and be ready to
So, at that point, we bought back the other go. When you bring it in, in the beginning RMD: Large raw heads of cabbage are
half of the business … Since 2003, we’ve of November … it can take three months, dumped on a pad and then conveyed
been independent. We were called Great four months. What happens is, it gets to into (the facility). Heads are washed and
n November/December 2016
18 Cover Story
tumbled to remove any dirt, as well as

Photo by Jesse Osborne

excess green outer wrapper leaves.
The heads are then conveyed to large
shredding blades where the heads
are made into slaw. The slaw then is
sorted both by infrared laser to remove
undesirable core material, as well as by
high-speed color sorters to remove any
remaining green leaves. The shredded
and sorted cabbage then is conveyed to
the salting station where it is salted at
about 2 percent. After salting, the slaw
makes its way via conveyor to one of
our vat rooms. The slaw is covered in
the vat with large, heavy-duty sheets of
plastic. A bed of water is then applied to
the plastic in order to create an air-tight
seal which allows for the fermentation In 2014, GLK Foods transitioned to a high-speed, automated shredding and
process to begin. sorting process that utilizes state-of-the-art infrared lasers and high-speed
color sorters. Any remaining cabbage core material and green leaves are
FM: What kind of equipment does removed during this process. Shredded and sorted cabbage is then salted
GLK Foods utilize in sauerkraut before being conveyed to one of the Bear Creek facility’s vat rooms where the
production and packaging? fermentation process takes place.

Photo by Jesse Osborne

RMD: Much of the equipment used in
sauerkraut packaging is common to
other food processing plants — can/
glass fillers, VFFS (vertical-form-
fill-seal) and pre-formed bagging
equipment, case-packers, palletization,
etc. The more unique equipment is
the cabbage cutting and vat unloading
systems we use. For cabbage cutting,
both infrared lasers and high-speed
color sorting equipment is utilized. For
vat unloading we utilize a proprietary
pumping system which allows for high-
speed unloading of vats with no human
intervention.

FM: How is the sauerkraut production

Photo by Jesse Osborne
split between the Bear Creek and
Shortsville facilities?

RMD: We do more (at Bear Creek). It’s

probably 65-35, 70-30 (percent in favor
of Bear Creek). It varies. For example,
this year in New York, their crop is not
looking as hot as it does (in Wisconsin).
They had 40 or 45 days this summer
straight of no rain and 90-plus degrees
… So they were real dry out there. (In
Wisconsin) we’ve had a near perfect
growing season. So that balance will
shift probably a little bit more (in Bear
Creek’s favor) this year.

November/December 2016 n
GLK Foods at a Glance

Interested in Cleaning
and Sanitizing with No
Chemicals while Drastically
• GLK Foods, LLC is the world’s largest producer of sauerkraut,
accounting for approximately 85 percent of the North American Reducing Water Usage?
market and more than all of Western Europe combined.
• The business began in 1900 when brothers Dave and Henry
Flanagan started Flanagan Brothers in Bear Creek, Wisconsin. After
The Eagle
a number of acquisitions and a merger with Birds Eye Foods, Great
Lakes Kraut Company, LLC was created in 1997. Has Landed!
• In 2003, Great Lakes Kraut bought back the other half of the
business and was once again independent.
• In 2010, the company was renamed GLK Foods, LLC to align with a
strategy to bring innovative products to market beyond sauerkraut.
• The company’s top-selling sauerkraut brands include: Silver Floss,
Krrrrisp Kraut, Cortland Valley (organic), Saverne (Raw and Artisanal
flavored kraut), Kissling’s and Willie’s in a variety of portion sizes in
poly bags, stand-up pouches, glass jars, cans and pails.
• Probiotic Saverne Raw Kraut is packaged in a vented stand-up
pouch that allows the kraut to naturally ferment in the package.
• Every year, GLK Foods processes 140,000 tons of raw cabbage into
105,000 tons of sauerkraut. This volume requires 4,700 acres of
cabbage fields and more than 50 million cabbage plants.
• The Bear Creek plant can process 1,200 tons of raw cabbage in
one day.
• GLK Foods is the only sauerkraut manufacturer to use stainless Introducing
steel tanks, pumping systems for unloading tanks and high- the Electro-Steam Food Safety Division’s New Eagle Series
Dry Steam Generator – a superior, cost-effective and
speed Vertical Form/Fill/Seal equipment. GLK is currently the only environmentally safe alternative to other cleaning methods
U.S. sauerkraut manufacturer with automated glass packaging available to modern food and bakery processors.
capabilities. e Made in the USA and registered with the National Board
• In 2014, GLK Foods transitioned to a high-speed, automated as required by US law
shredding and sorting process using state-of-the-art lasers and e Safe to operate and legal to use in the USA according to
optics in order to improve quality, yield and worker safety. ASME Boiler Code
• The concrete tanks at the Bear Creek facility hold an average of e Effectively cleans, sanitizes, and eliminates pathogenic
130,000 pounds of sauerkraut. The fiberglass tanks hold over bacteria and related biofilms with steam temperatures
600,000 pounds of sauerkraut and the stainless steel tanks from 212°F - 500°F
average 1.3 million pounds of sauerkraut. e No water runoff - 95% to 99% reduction in water usage,
• The Bear Creek facility can produce more than 300 cans per depending on the model
minute and 125 32-ounce glass jars per minute. The Shortsville e Available with many attachments and accessories,
belt/conveyor cleaners, and more
facility can produce 140 poly two-pound bags per minute.
• In 2014, GLK Foods launched the OH SNAP! brand of refrigerated e The Industry Leader in electric steam generators since
1952 with 60 years of food safety and sanitation experience
fresh-packed pickles in single-serve standup
pouches with no added brine. The company Ask us about a FREE ON-SITE DEMO!
extended the product line in 2016 with pickled Visit us at the IBIE • Oct. 8th - 11th at Booth #11358
green beans and pickled carrots.
• In 2016, GLK Foods launched the GoBitos brand Electro-Steam Eagle Series
of roasted chickpeas in single-serve standup Dry Steam Solutions for the Food and Bakery Industries
pouches.
Toll-Free: 866-692-1600
— Source: GLK Foods, LLC P: 678-271-9200 • F: 678-271-9202
www.esteamfoodsafety.com
n November/December 2016 sales@esteamfoodsafety.com
20 Cover Story

Photo by Jesse Osborne

Photo by Jesse Osborne

The stainless steel tanks (left) at the Bear Creek facility hold an average of 1.3 million pounds of sauerkraut. The
facility’s blue fiberglass tanks (right) hold an average of more than 600,000 pounds of sauerkraut. The Bear Creek
facility also has concrete tanks that hold an average of 130,000 pounds of sauerkraut.

FM: Are there any products/product

Photo by Jesse Osborne

lines that are specific to each facility?

RMD: Out in New York, that’s where all

of our poly-bagged product is produced.
That’s the laydown poly bag that typically
goes in the meat case at the retailer. The
poly that we do (in Wisconsin) is the stand-
up bags that are pre-formed bags that
would have the valves on them … that’s
for our Saverne brand. That’s a slightly
more boutique, kind of upper-end brand.
… The (OH SNAP! Pickling Co.
products), right now, is just (at Bear
Creek).

FM: Where does the company source

its cabbage?
GLK’s Bear Creek facility can produce more than 300 cans of sauerkraut per
RMD: This is the first year… ever since minute. The company also has automated glass packaging capabilities and can
I’ve been involved, and certainly it’s got to produce 125 32-ounce glass jars of sauerkraut per minute in Bear Creek.
be (going back) 50 years, that we haven’t

Photo by Jesse Osborne

planted our own (cabbage) because we
were able to bring on more (contract)
growers to spread that load around a bit.
Here in our Wisconsin facility, we brought
in four new cabbage growers this year
(and now work with a total of 10). It’s
the first time we’ve brought in a new
grower of any type in probably (20 or 25
years). The same thing in upstate New
York. There’s a heavier grower base out
there though, because they grow a lot
for the fresh market. The farmers in New
York leverage us for anything that gets
away from them in the field that would
have been tidy, pretty market cabbage.
And if it gets away from them, or there’s
any issues with it, they know they have
November/December 2016 n
 www.foodmanufacturing.com 21

Photo by Jesse Osborne

Product photos courtesy of GLK Foods

The company’s line of OH SNAP! Pickling Co. pickles was launched in 2014 — and pickled
carrot sticks (Carrot Cuties) and pickled green beans (Cool Beans) were added to the product
line in 2016. OH SNAP! products are distributed nationally, and can be found at Walmart, Target,
convenience stores and other mainstream retailers across the U.S.

us as kind of the backstop to take excess FM: How has the company grown or could keep you out of action for a week
cabbage. It works really well out there, we evolved in recent years? to 10 days. When you are dealing with the
have a good partnership and we’re kind of long sunlight days, that just didn’t make a
their outlet. They still have contracts with us RMD: A big evolution for us in the past five lot of sense to me to be out of commission,
to grow for us, but then there is some times years has been in the way that we grow because that’s where all your heat units
that we’ll take excess that they have. And cabbage. Still, a good portion of our product are to grow this cabbage. It’s a relatively
(in Wisconsin) it’s all grown for us. is grown from plugs in a greenhouse, and short season here. So we’ve moved that
… (All the cabbage) that’s (at Bear then transplanted into the ground. The direction, and that’s been huge for us
Creek) would be within probably a 50-mile seed comes from Europe and goes to a because we can plant faster. If we don’t like
radius … probably call it a 50-mile radius couple of different greenhouses here. It’s the way something looks, we can re-plant
(in New York), as well. grown to a seedling height of maybe five very easily. It’s really revolutionary in the
inches or so, and then transplanted. But business for us.
FM: What makes the areas near the the transplanting portion of it is super time-
company’s Wisconsin and New York consuming, a very slow process, and it FM: In 2014, the company introduced
facilities ideal for growing cabbage? takes like 16 people per crew to do it. The the OH SNAP! Pickling Co. line of
acreage you plant in a day is minimal. So refrigerated fresh packed pickles, and
RMD: In between Bear Creek and Shiocton you are stretched over this spring planting has since added pickled carrot sticks
(Wisconsin) is a glacial lake bed and it’s just season, and you’re just exposed to what and pickled green beans to the OH
got a great kind of sandy loam soil that’s might be happening with the weather. So SNAP! product line. What can you tell us
perfectly suited to growing cabbage … what we’ve done, is now we plant a lot of about those products?
Then the Central Sands (Wisconsin) area, our seed, actually we direct seed it with
the natural aquifer under the ground allows … carrot planters, essentially. And we do RMD: The brand is called Oh Snap! Pickling
for high-capacity wells. It’s a real sandy it over in the Central Sands area around Company. You’ve got the Gone Dilly, which
soil, so during planting it drains very well, Waupaca (Wisconsin). It’s a real fine soil is a whole dill pickle, a kosher dill. Then
so even if you get heavy rains you can get and it’s all under irrigation, so we’re able to you’ve got the Dilly Bites, which is that
back on the ground quickly and continue direct seed, give it the water it needs, and same pickle that’s cut into slices for easier
planting. And then with irrigation, you can go from there. When you have something snacking. That’s far and away the best
give the plant all the water it needs. Those under irrigation and control that water, it’s seller. And then we’ve got the Hottie, which
two things in Wisconsin are great … The just taking risk out of the equation. And it is a whole pickle, but it’s been brined and
soils are actually very similar in New York to takes risk out, not only from getting it just capsicum is added, the jalapeño extract, so
the Bear Creek/Shiocton soils of Wisconsin. the water it needs, but on those sands, if that’s what makes it hot. And then there’s
They are almost in the same latitudinal you get a rain during the planting season, the Hottie Bites, which is the sliced up
band, and it’s just good cabbage-growing you can get back on that ground, probably version of that.
ground … Both areas are just well-suited the next day, because it drains so well. Over They’ve been in the market just about
to cabbage. in the Bear Creek tract and corridor where a year now. It’s growing like crazy for us,
we were doing more of it before, heavy rain which is fun. And then we just added the
n November/December 2016
22 Cover Story
In 2016, the company added roasting

Photo by Jesse Osborne

capabilities at its Bear Creek facility.
GLK Foods plans to launch its GoBitos
brand of roasted chickpeas in
November 2016. Flavors will include:
Aged White Cheddar, Sweet & Hot
Thai Chili, Tangy Ranch, Hot Hot Hot
Ghost Pepper and Garlic Parm.

Photo by Jesse Osborne

Product photo courtesy of GLK Foods

carrots and the green beans. The carrots step into without going crazy and see if unlike anything we have in our
are the Carrot Cuties, and the green beans it does have legs. And it demonstrated it operation.
are Cool Beans. has, so now we started brining our own We have a pre-roasting oven that
cucumbers, we’re … getting deeper into takes excess moisture off of the product
FM: How did the OH SNAP! product the supply chain, and then we’re going to before the main roast, and then there’s
line come about? Why was this type of fully automate all the (pickle) packaging the soaking equipment. A chickpea,
product a good fit for GLK Foods? and see where it goes. It’s been fun. when it comes to us, is in a dry (state), I
think it’s at like 13 percent moisture, or
RMD: You kind of look for — what are FM: GLK Foods will launch its GoBitos something like that. We have to soak it …
your facilities certified to do? And things brand of roasted chickpeas in multiple and then you roast and then you season.
that are high acid, we can do … So just flavors in November 2016. What kind And the seasoning equipment we have is
looking at opportunities there. And it just of equipment did the company have to unique, too.
occurred to me that there’s a void. We eat invest in to accommodate the product
a lot of pickles in this country, and more line? FM: What do you believe sets GLK
and more people, they’re interested in Foods products apart from others in the
convenience. I tried the (single-serving RMD: Pre-formed pouch packaging marketplace?
pickle) products that existed in the equipment, but that’s kind of common
market, and I wasn’t exactly blown away, among food products … We have a RMD: On the kraut side, it’s really that
and just thought it was time for something large industrial-sized roaster from we’ve focused on this business like
different. It was really that basic. And (Texas company) AC Horn … That was nobody else has. Kraut is a relatively
it was something that we could kind of a special piece of equipment that was simple product, but it requires a fair bit
November/December 2016 n
 Product photo courtesy of GLK Foods

of infrastructure to tackle it yet, but now with our roasting

in the right way, and we’ve capabilities I imagine we will be
gone about that. Scale helps to trying more things in that realm.
make us the low-cost producer.
And innovation, not only in the FM: What does the future
process, but also (the products). hold for GLK Foods in terms
We do a craft beer (flavored of capital expansion plans/
sauerkraut), we do a sriracha, a growth?
dill and garlic.
… Then, on the pickle side, RMD: From a capital
it’s pretty basic. The branding perspective, we’re putting
is right … (OH SNAP!) is a in a new can label line, and
refrigerated pickle, so it’s never high-speed automated case-
heated and it’s not fermented. packing and palletization in
It goes directly into its brine to our Bear Creek facility. On
equilibration and then we pull that can-label line, we’re
it back out and put it in the putting in a new glass filler.
bag. It’s gas-flushed, so it holds We are putting in new pickle
through at least a six-month packaging equipment for our
shelf life. They taste good, OH SNAP! line — high-speed,
there’s no brine, there’s no automated equipment. We’re
mess, the branding is right. It’s going to be adding more cooler
just a slight tweak on things that space at the Bear Creek and
already existed, and it works. New York facilities. In not too
long, we’ll be putting in the
FM: What can you tell us same automated (cabbage)
about any future plans for cutting line that we have in
expansion of the company’s Wisconsin in New York, as well.
product line? We’ll continue to add more
automated elements to our
RMD: I think there will be further roasted chickpea line, that’s for
line extensions for Oh Snap!, the GoBitos product.
if I had to guess. The chickpea … One of the biggest
line, we’ll see how that fares as (projects involves) putting a new
it launches in (November), and massive vat room in Bear Creek
see where that heads. There that will be all automated with
will be more coming. I couldn’t pumping, stainless steel vats.
say exactly what it will be just So there’s lots going on.
n November/December 2016