LAKEVILLE – A Lakeville food distributor and processor has a new name intended to reflect its growth in products and services.
Sweeteners Plus has changed its name to ingredients PLUS, the company announced on November 17.
The change reflects the company’s growth from a regional supplier of a core number of sweetener products to a national processor and distributor of liquid and dry ingredients for all sizes of food and beverage as well as non-food industries such as pharmaceuticals, company officials said. .
The new name – part of a rebranding campaign – reflects the company’s expanding fulfillment capabilities and logistics for a nationwide range of clients.
“We are a technology-driven, food ingredients company and the name ‘ingredients PLUS’ represents how our technology, expertise and elite logistics resources deliver ingredients to customers when and where they need them,” Kyle Whitford, senior vice president of sales for ingredients PLUS, said in a press release. “Our new name reflects our growth with the industry.”
The company, although national in scope, will maintain its headquarters in Lakeville.
The company’s new name also “signals a purposeful pivot for our business,” said Eric Johnson, vice president of organizational strategy and development for PLUS ingredients.
“We’re committed to our long-term customers and services, but we’re diversifying and expanding what we bring to market,” Johnson said.
Mastering ingredient logistics, in particular, has helped PLUS ingredients grow while earning recognition from customers. Confectioners, for example, need products such as liquid sugar delivered at a specific temperature and consistency to integrate smoothly with their production lines. Ingredients PLUS creates and tests the special formulations required by customers and then stores and transports them exactly as and when a customer requires them.
As a distributor and manufacturer of liquid and dry sweeteners for food and non-food, the company’s products include white and brown sugar, organic and kosher products, fructose, maltitol, corn syrup and invert syrups. Additional services include bottling, custom blending and liquids, according to its website.
“With all the logistical and supply chain challenges that companies have faced over the last couple of years, it’s important to have the capabilities of PLUS ingredients to ensure we deliver what our customers expect,” says Jeremy Rowley, purchasing manager for Rochester-based Pennant. Ingredients Inc., Ingredients PLUS customer. “They are strategic in how they have created processing facilities and a distribution network to meet our needs and eliminate variables that could disrupt production.”
As the diet and environmental concerns of consumers have changed, the traditional range of products offered by food and beverage has also evolved. In response, ingredients PLUS has grown to provide ingredients including edible oils, organic sweeteners, non-GMO products, Fairtrade offerings and environmentally friendly packaging.
“With our expanding product lines, logistics arm and facilities,” Whitford said, “we’ve grown into the ingredients PLUS name, which encompasses everything we can do for our customers.”
In recent years, Sweeteners Plus has expanded its volume of products and added a number of positions that sometimes exceeded the demand of available workers.
Sweeteners Plus was among the local companies assisting efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic in May 2020 to provide a sanitizing solution and disinfectant to area businesses as they prepared to reopen. Sweeteners Plus utilized its bottling facility to produce the disinfectant spray (2% chlorine solution) for the district.
The former Sweeteners Plus was founded in 1983 by the late Carlton E. Myers as a food processing plant. The company evolved into a processor and distributor of all types of liquid and dry sweeteners as food companies consolidated and moved operations out of New York.
Ingredients PLUS uses rail – it has its own on-site rail facility – and distribution partners to transport products over long distances. The company uses its own fleet of multi-fuel compressed natural gas trucks to distribute products regionally.
The company also produces a variety of specialty liquid syrups for distribution to the retail and food service industry. Its bottling facility contains a state-of-the-art bottling line that supports private-label beverage production, including kosher and organic beverage needs.
In 2008, Sweeteners Plus was awarded Livingston County Business of the Year. Myers, who died on August 15, 2022, was inducted into the Rochester Business Hall of Fame.
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