BEF to launch mac & cheese line

Bob Evans opened a facility in Sulphur Springs in 2003, buying the former Kozy Snack Enterprises facility. In 2008, it expanded the plant by an additional 50,000 square feet, nearly doubling its size. It also purchased additional acreage at the site.

In 2013, Bob Evans shut the original Owens Country Sausage facility in Richardson, which had been open 50 years, offering employees the opportunity to transfer to Sulphur Springs. Another expansion took place at that same time, and part of that space has stood empty ever since. Bob Evans’ plan is to use it to begin macaroni and cheese production.

“A lot of the work will be in that area that’s not currently being used. … That work should be beginning probably within the next few weeks. The month of August, that’s when all the heavy equipment…should be arriving,” said Mark Maginnis, senior plant manager for BEF Foods, Inc., which operates the Sulphur Springs-based Bob Evans plant.

The heavy equipment includes a bowl filler machine, box erector, blenders and others needed for production, he said. With everything on schedule, the plant should begin producing macaroni and cheese shortly after Labor Day this year.

Currently, according to Maginnis, Bob Evans “owns the market share in potatoes” and is No. 1 in the macaroni and cheese market.

“It’s an $8.3 million investment. That’s the cost to bring in this new production line. When we bring in a new production line, that will increase our production by 40 million pounds,” Maginnis said.

BEF Foods in Sulphur Springs produces foodstuffs for both retail and commercial or food service distribution. In order to make room for the macaroni and cheese production, the local plant will be stopping its retail soups and gravy line (e.i. chicken noodle soup and chili, white and brown gravy) and retain the food service production. The retail will be moved to a plant in Lima, Ohio, which, Maginnis said, gives that plant the opportunity to focus on producing their potato lines. The Sulphur Springs plant, he said, was purchased for the expansion opportunities.

“We’ll be taking on macaroni and cheese, which will be retail and food service business and will be a three-shift operation,” Maginnis explains. “We’ll run 48 hours, stop, do a sanitize and washdown, and then start up again.

Employees who are staffing the line planned for shutdown will staff the first and second shifts on the new macaroni and cheese line. They will also be hiring a third shift, along with support personnel, he said.

Maginnis also said that they expect the food service potato production will increase “upward of 6-8 millions pounds,” which he said may facilitate the need to hire more personnel for second shift on that line.

Bob Evans employs approximately 180 workers.

“With these changes, I can see above 200 headcount,” Maginnis said.