Little more than a year ago, the plant that would eventually become the home of Custom Foods, Inc., was merely a vision for Mr. Tepsic, who now serves as company president. For that matter, the company itself was still a yet-to-be-realized dream.
In July 1997, the site where the plant now sits was still an active Kansas wheat field. In fact, on the day of Custom Foods' construction ground breaking ceremony, a John Deere tractor was still at work in that field, a remarkable backdrop to the festivities. By February of this ye product was rolling off the new frozen dough line and on ~1' its way to the new private label manufacturer's charter custom
With its plant and headquarters office in DeSoto, Kas., Custom Foods is currently a one line/one-customer company, conceived from an idea to blend high-quality frozen foods with customer-oriented private label manufacturing. Opportunity for that winning combination came byway of a fast-growing restaurant chain that prominently features bread products on its diverse menu of pasta and sandwiches. From breadsticks and dinner rolls, to white and whole wheat 12-in. loaves, Custom Foods produces all of the frozen dough for this company's 120-plus units coast-to-coast.
CONTROLLED RISK. Not fully satisfied with the service and quality of its previous frozen dough manufacturer, the restaurant chain looked outward and found Rudy Tepsic, who was ready to put his many years in the food and machinery manufacturing industries to work in starting up his own business.
"There is, of course, risk along the way," Mr. Tepsic said. "You just try to make it as controlled as possible, and I thought I had a very controlled plan to get this company up and going." He also had 23 years of management experience, combined with bachelor's and master's of science degrees in industrial management from Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh.
In 1990, Mr. Tepsic was vice-president of sales, marketing, QA and R&D for Tasty Frozen Products in Lenexa, Kas. When the company was sold to Hj. Heinz Co. that year, it became one of several privately owned companies that Heinz pulled together to form its bakery products division. For the next several years, Rudy remained with Heinz to help coordinate the transition and manage accounts such as Dunkin' Donuts, Pizza Hut and Little Caesar's. He had remained in the Kansas City area during his time with Heinz, but knew he'd need to relocate to remain with the company. He chose to stay in Kansas City and left Heinz in May 1996.
"I picked some very good suppliers, and they came through in spades for us," he said. "With only one line, that line has to really run well. It can't break down."
Staff commitment was no less critical. Management at Custom Foods includes Dean Andrews, operations manager; Gary Donaldson, QA/R&D manager; and Dave Craven, facilities manager. According to Mr. Tepsic, each of these gentlemen was essential in the push to start up operations in such a short period of time.
Mr. Andrews came on board in December 1997, as the building construction was nearing completion. In the throes of equipment installation, Mr. Andrews and Mr. Tepsic rolled up their sleeves and worked side by side with suppliers, sometimes until the wee hours, to get the job done.
"When I hired Dean, I knew he had all the potential in the world to run this operation," Mr. Tepsic said. "I initially hired him to assemble equipment and run the machines, and he's grown from that."
Mr. Donaldson joined Custom Foods first as a mixer operator, and then quickly put to work his 11 years of baking industry experience "to establish true quality assurance control points throughout the plant," Mr. Tepsic explained. "He brought a lot of baking knowledge with him."
Mr. Craven keeps the whole facility operating smoothly, from equipment maintenance to building and property upkeep. "He's making thousands of dollars of decisions," Mr. Tepsic said. "These guys have made the business go where I wanted it to go without my constant, direct involvement."
The Custom Foods plant was laid out to accommodate 120 workers. The current employee roster is 20.
QUALITY IN, QUALITY OUT. "If you can control the temperature of everything you put in, you can control what comes out," Mr. Tepsic explained.
Indeed, the temperature of the entire plant, from office to freezer, is closely monitored. A central ammonia refrigeration system keeps the plant's refrigerators and freezers at ideal temperature.
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