KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MI – A Kalamazoo County company has completed a $15 million expansion that helps the company mix and package people's favorite flavors of ice cream, soda, protein bars, energy drinks and more.
Called FlavorSum, the company is a “flavor producer” located just west of Kalamazoo at 3680 Stadium Park Way. FlavorSum gave MLive/Kalamazoo Gazette a tour inside their new 35,000-square-foot expansion.
The project started at $10 million and ended up costing $15 million, with some costs turning out to be higher than expected and the project's scope expanding, company executives said.
The added warehouse and facilities will help “make life a little more ergonomically correct,” said Brian Briggs, president and CEO.
“(This) gave us the bandwidth to put in about $4 million worth of new automation equipment,” Briggs said. “Imagine a 1,000-gallon mixer, like a KitchenAid mixer for your home, but on steroids. That's how we built a lot of our products.”
Briggs took over the company in March 2020. Since then, FlavorSum has grown from 40 to 72 employees in its Kalamazoo location, making it the hub of business.
There are two other FlavorSum labs, one in Ontario, Canada, and one in New Jersey.
There are only about 200 “flavorists” in North America, and Briggs says FlavorSum has nine, which allows his team to prototype and create flavors here.
This new investment will allow FlavorSum to replicate what the final production run of the product will look like.
“Flavorists can make things on their benchtop, but when you're making a protein drink, the taste can change quite a bit after it's been produced in a larger facility,” Briggs says, “so we can take something that's made on the desktop and essentially process it on our smaller equipment, which allows our customers to speed up the process.”
When you walk into the new warehouse, you're hit with an immediate wave of aromas, which Briggs says all mix together to create a scent that permeates the entire building.
FlavorSum works with small to medium sized emerging food and beverage companies to help them develop new flavors.
While the company won't disclose who its customers are, FlavorSum has been responsible for identifying many new alcoholic and non-alcoholic soda flavors on the market, and also works with local ice cream manufacturers and others.
“Our strength is that we work with companies and essentially become an extension of their organizations because we can help them with their 'research and development,' help them figure out how to make their products and give them the information they need,” Briggs says. “We spend a lot of time with our customers asking, 'What are you trying to make?'”
For example, the flavors you crave while exercising will be different from the flavors you crave when relaxing before bed.
Traditionally, the product was produced and then hand poured into one or five gallon containers, but with the new investment, the mixing tank is now directly connected to a filling machine that fills and caps the product.
There are also machines that stack products on pallets, saving workers the trouble of lifting heavy loads.
Currently, the main responsibilities of the field team are quality monitoring and labelling, and Briggs hopes that the new automated equipment will make their job easier.
FlavorSum is an expert in customizing consumer experiences, and Briggs is pleased to have found a home in Kalamazoo.
“The investment in automation and equipment is a really great growth story, but it also takes talent,” Briggs says. “The biggest factor in our success is the people at FlavorSum.”
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