Clarion County Cookie Plant Adds Jobs, New Cookies

| September 20, 2012

RIMERSBURG, Pa. (EYT) – Cookies have caught the attention of the state after a visit at the iBake Foods plant in Rimersburg Wednesday morning. The visitors quickly got a chance to taste the success of the new business and sample the many cookies produced.

C. Alan Walker, Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED), requested a tour of iBake and held a press conference during the visit, part of an eight county tour of Western Pennsylvania. The conference was hosted by the Clarion County Economic Development Corporation.

“The energy and excitement in small communities is most impressive,” said Walker, “If DCED can tie into that and help people bring these good projects to us, it is going to be a great project. People haven’t given up on their communities and there’s a tremendous love of communities. I’m from a small community, and I can sense the pride, energy, and the fact that people want to save their communities. It’s just like your school system. You are always striving to make it better and it’s the same thing with communities. If we stop striving, we’re in trouble.”

Walker also emphasized the re-industrialization of Pennsylvania, pointing out some of the state efforts in the press conference. (Watch the complete conference on the video below.)

Ed Metzger, vice president of sales and marketing for iBake Foods, said that the plant now has 35 employees and there are plans to expand within the next six or seven months to around 100 employees, running three shifts a day.

“Right now there are approximately 80 percent former employees, and they are the key for getting us to where we’re at. They’re just absolutely incredible.”

iBake packages cookies for private labels and their own brand

“We think of ourselves as more of a co-packaging or a private label manufacturer; our product is going to in-store bakeries of chains, and in that segment of the business, it’s pretty much dominated by the chain’s brand,” said Metzger, “We don’t see the necessity to go out and develop a brand of our own, like a Keebler or anything like that. Our focus is to make high quality products that anyone would be proud of.”

Not being from this area, the iBake owners were pleased with the annual Cookie Daze celebrations.

“We are definitely going to be embracing the festival,” continued Metzger, “Now that we are firmly entrenched in the community, that’s something that we want to support. Our products are going to be national, but we want to make this our home.”

And what is his favorite cookie?

“I’m going to go with a double chocolate chunk, followed up by another product we’re working on and hope to have in some local supermarkets very soon – a salted caramel chocolate chunk cookie.”

 


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Category: Local News, News