The business said the expansion of its facility in Bluffton, Indiana, was to keep up with growing consumer demand for its better-for-you line of Boulder Canyon Authentic Foods potato chips.
Boulder Canyon is produced in small batches from organic potatoes, and uses premium oils including olive, avocado, and coconut. The products contain no artificial flavors, colors or preservatives.
The business is increasing capacity at Bluffton by 50% - an additional 100,000 lbs of product per week – by adding four new 300 lb commercial kettles and potato processing equipment. The new kettle lines go live this month.
Extruded snacks
Until now, Bluffton has primarily produced extruded snacks, with kettle-cooked chips supplied out of Inventure’s site in Goodyear, Arizona. Inventure also has facilities in Washington, Oregon and Georgia.
"We are fortunate to have a strong legion of Boulder fans," said Inventure Foods CEO Terry McDaniel.
"The challenge for us has been keeping up with consumer demand, yet we've never been willing to sacrifice manufacturing excellence in pursuit of a quick-fix solution to short term capacity challenges.”
The Bluffton expansion will meet current needs while allowing for future growth, he said, adding: "We've built for increased volume, but also benefit geographically as we are in a better position to serve customers across the country."
Licensed brands
Inventure produces food under owned and licensed brands including Jamba, Seattle's Best Coffee, Rader Farms, TGI Fridays, Nathan's Famous, Vidalia Brands, Poore Brothers, Tato Skins, Willamette Valley Fruit Company, Fresh Frozen and Bob's Texas Style and Sin In A Tin.
The company is also extending Boulder Canyon with a line of frozen vegetable rice that will debut this fall.