Published: September 03, 2008 02:23 pm            

Kellogg buys Seelyville’s IndyBake, plans to add hundreds of jobs

Company to retain Valley facility’s 90 employees

SEELYVILLE — Cracker and cereal giant Kellogg Co. has bought IndyBake Products LLC in Seelyville – a move expected to bring several hundred new manufacturing jobs to Vigo County.

Kellogg announced the purchase, which was completed on Aug. 29, on Wednesday; however, the Battle Creek, Mich.-based company would not release how much it paid for IndyBake.

The approximately 90-full time workers at IndyBake are being retained by Kellogg, said Kris Charles, a spokeswoman for Kellogg.

The company also expects to add 150 full-time jobs and an additional 150 contract jobs over the next three years, she said.

IndyBake is now “officially a part of the Kellogg family and we couldn’t be happier about it,” Charles said. She would not disclose how much the newly created positions would pay; however, she said the company will hire production and operations associates and managers.

“We’ve had a relationship with [IndyBake] for some time as a co-manufacturing partner,” Charles said. “They’ve got really top quality production facilities that allow us to make the types of innovations we’ve been launching into the marketplace,” she said.

Kellogg primarily will make crackers at the Seelyville facility, including Keebler, Club and Cheese-It brands, Charles said.

There are no plans to expand the Seelyville factory at this time, Charles said. “The intent isn’t to expand the physical building per se. If we need to add production it would be likely through adding a shift or adding additional lines,” she said.

At the same time it bought IndyBake, Kellogg also purchased Brownie Products Co. in Gardner, Ill. IndyBake and Brownie Products had combined revenues of $50 million in 2007, according to a Kellogg media statement.

Kellogg had 2007 sales of nearly $12 billion, the statement said.

Taxpayers provided support for the IndyBake purchase with combined tax credits and grants totaling more than $1.4 million, according to a separate media statement issued by state officials and Kellogg Co. on Wednesday.

The Indiana Economic Development Corp. offered Kellogg up to $740,000 in performance-based tax credits and up to $120,000 in training grants based on the company’s job creation plans. The state of Indiana also will provide the local community with up to $500,000 in grants to offset infrastructure improvement costs. The town of Seelyville is providing a property tax abatement and Vigo County has offered $100,000 in infrastructure assistance, the media statement said.

Kellogg Co., founded by Will Keith Kellogg in 1906, recently also bought a food company in China and posted a 2 percent increase in operating profits in the second quarter of this year. The company markets its products in more than 180 countries, a company media statement said.



Tribune-Star reporter Howard Greninger contributed to this report. Arthur Foulkes can be reached at (812) 231-4232 or arthur.foulkes@tribstar.com.

        

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