Sample book with community resources insert

sanitation safeguards AbiMar Foods uses. The company
maintains a comprehensive Food Safety Program that
includes a Safe Quality Food (SQF) certification.
The tour begins with the industrial-sized mixers that transform
basic ingredients like sugar, flour, and shortening into
works of art. The perfectly mixed cookie dough is either die cut
or wire cut, depending on consistency. The product lines consist
of numerous varieties and sizes to suit your needs. Chocolate
Chip, Coconut Macaroon and Oatmeal are just some of the wire
cut cookies made from recipes handed down over the years to
ensure quality taste and appearance. The classic die cut cookie
maintains an old-fashioned appearance and the taste you will
remember from childhood. Varieties include the Almond
Windmill, Coconut Bar, and the old-fashioned Butter Cookie.
The Sandwich Crème line offers a wide variety of flavors to
fit everyone’s cravings. You will find flavors such as Vanilla,
Peanut Butter, Lemon, Chocolate, and Strawberry. Touring the
production area is like walking through every child’s dream
world. Various-shaped cookie tops and bottoms form perfect
rows of tasty treats on conveyor belts that move along at an
amazing clip. Chocolate, vanilla, or other filling is added onto
the bottom layer before the top is precisely placed. Robotic
arms rise and fall, assembling the cookies, packaging them,
and placing them in boxes, all with military precision.
But it is the more than 600 employees who make the
magic happen. The robotic arms just speed things up a bit.
Once cut and baked, the cookies or crackers are packaged
and then transported to a distribution warehouse at another
location in Abilene. The biggest market for the products is
the United States, but the company continuously is growing
the export business.
The large-scale production was made possible by the acquisition
and construction, with support of the city, in 2014 of a
second location on South First Street, about a half-mile from
the original building on North First Street.
The North First Street location houses administrative
offices in addition to a production plant that turns out a variety
of cookies. Both cookies and crackers are produced at the
South First Street location.
From 2010, when Nutresa bought Fehr Foods, to
2017, both the amount of sales and the number of employees
doubled, making AbiMar Foods, the city’s largest
manufacturing employer.
“We’re here to stay,” the company vows.
THE MARKETPLACE
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