In 2004, when Cereal Ingredients was exploring expansion opportunities for a new manufacturing facility, it was important to the food manufacturer that the company stayed in the Kansas City metropolitan area because of the region’s exceptional transportation facilities and central location within the United States. Cereal Ingredients selected Leavenworth, Kansas over other communities in the Kansas City metropolitan area because of prime property for its headquarters, research and development, and food manufacturing and because the property exists in a Foreign Trade Zone.
Cereal Ingredients manufactures food products that add flavor, color, and texture to baked goods, cereals, and other ready-to-eat food products and ingredients. Cereal Ingredients markets and delivers to clients worldwide, so a Foreign Trade Zone designation was critical to the company when selecting its new location. Foreign Trade Zones, including the one in Leavenworth, Kansas that Cereal Ingredients calls home, reduce or eliminate costs and barriers associated with U.S. trade laws that are unintentional.
The food manufacturing facilities that Cereal Ingredients occupies today include two 40,000 square foot buildings with an adjacent lot ready for an additional building when Cereal Ingredients CEO Bob Hatch decides to expand the campus. Hatch is a keen businessman with over twenty years of experience in the food manufacturing industry, and his decision to move Cereal Ingredients to Leavenworth, Kansas is a decision he stands by.
“We couldn’t be happier about the way this turned out,” says Hatch of bringing his food manufacturing company to Leavenworth, Kansas. “We’ve moved our banking to the area as well, and we’re providing good-paying jobs to the people in the community.”
Likewise, the community of Leavenworth, Kansas couldn’t be happier about being the home for Cereal Ingredients, and the great community of Leavenworth County, Kansas is working hard to welcome more food industry manufacturers and other strong companies to the community to grow in its exceptional business climate. “At any given time, we have several committees working to develop commercial growth in all our communities,” says Terry Andrews, chairman of the Leavenworth County Port Authority.
