Kentucky Department of Agriculture

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, August 1, 2011
For more information contact:
Bill Clary
(502) 564-1137

 

Kentucky Proud business with rich tradition is poised for a bright future

BLOOMFIELD, Ky. — Bloomfield Farms’ Kentucky roots can be traced back six generations to the 18th century.

In 1797, just five years after Kentucky became the 15th state admitted to the fledgling United States of America, William Sutherland was born in largely frontier Adair County. He was the great-great-great-grandfather of current Bloomfield Farms chief executive officer Dan Sutherland.

William Sutherland opened water-driven flour and corn mills on the Chaplin River in Washington and Marion counties in the 1800s. More mills followed in nearby Boyle, LaRue, and Nelson counties as the company continued to grow well into the 20th century.

Dan Sutherland sold the family business in 1976 but continued to serve as president until it was sold again in 1990. That’s when Sutherland decided to transition into the value-added side of the milling business by founding Blend Pak. Bloomfield Farms was incorporated in 2010.

Both Blend Pak and Bloomfield Farms have just three stockholders. Sutherland is president of Blend Pak while also serving as CEO of Bloomfield Farms. Sutherland’s wife, Sue, is president of Bloomfield Farms and executive vice president of Blend Pak. Matt Elder is vice president of both companies.

A recent visit to Blend Pak’s headquarters in Bloomfield found Sutherland in its test kitchen attempting to recreate a recipe. Often restaurants will give Sutherland a dish and ask him to determine what ingredients are in it.

“This [kitchen] is the mainstay of the business,” Sutherland said. “What we really like to do is create our own thing. That’s more fun.”

Blend Pak custom blends mixes for use in the dishes of many well-known national restaurant chains, mostly as coatings for meats. One of Blend Pak’s customers is a major sausage producer, which blends its sausage with Blend Pak’s flour mix to produce the sausage gravy served by a popular national restaurant chain.

If you attend a county fair or the Kentucky State Fair this summer, you may bite into some of Blend Pak’s tastier mixes.

“We’ve done mixes for corn dogs and funnel cakes,” Sutherland said. “We’re doing a gluten-free corn dog mix right now.”

New line of products

Seeing the need to create baking products for people with gluten and nut allergies, Blend Pak opened a new gluten- and peanut-free kosher facility last October in Bardstown named Bloomfield Farms.

Bloomfield Farms is the brand name of all the companies’ Kentucky Proud products, including its best seller, an all-natural seasoned flour. In 10 months, it has introduced nine gluten-free mixes for all-purpose baking, cornbread, loaf bread, muffins, pancakes and waffles, pizza dough, brownies, cookies, and cakes.

“A lot of people are discovering they are gluten intolerant, have a gluten sensitivity, or have celiac disease,” said Bloomfield Farms sales manager John Morris. Celiac disease is an autoimmune disorder of the small intestines for which the only treatment is a diet free of gluten, a natural protein found in wheat, rye, barley, and some oats.

Bloomfield Farms’ gluten-free products use flour made from rice and other ingredients that are certified gluten free. Whole Foods and Remke markets sell the gluten-free mixes. Bloomfield Farms’ products also can be found at ValuMarket in Louisville. Morris said Whole Foods, Remke, and ValuMarket “all ... are very Kentucky Proud driven.”

If you can’t find Bloomfield Farms products at a retail store, you can order them online at www.thebloomfieldfarms.com.

Kentucky Proud increases exposure

Bloomfield Farms’ Kentucky Proud products are distributed all over the U.S. and Canada. But Morris said being a member of Kentucky Proud has given the company more exposure in the state with the recent trend toward locally-produced foods.

“It helps us get exposure in venues where it matters,” Morris said. “Some companies are really interested in where a product comes from. One of our [state’s] big retailers seems to be listening about how it affects farmers and producers.”

The flour that Bloomfield Farms and Blend Pak use in their mixes comes from Siemer Milling Co. in Hopkinsville, which buys wheat and corn from Kentucky producers.

Blend Pak’s Bloomfield plant has earned a superior rating in food safety for 10 years in a row from the American Institute of Baking. Bloomfield Farms also received a Superior rating during its first year of operation.

When operating at full capacity, Blend Pak’s six product lines can produce a total of 250,000 pounds of baking products during one 8- to 10-hour shift. Its Bloomfield plant can churn out 200,000 pounds of flour and other products, while the Bardstown facility can make 50,000 gluten-free products per shift.

After working as the Kentucky Proud liaison for the Kentucky Grocers Association the previous four years, Morris joined Bloomfield Farms in January.

“Now I take all the information I learned in the past [with Kentucky Proud] and apply it to dealing with more retailers nationwide,” Morris said. “It’s fun to be back on this side [sales] of the equation again.”

Top right: Dan Sutherland works on a chicken recipe in the Bloomfield Farms test kitchen. (Photo by Chris Aldridge)

Bottom left: Sutherland, right, and John Morris pose with boxes of Bloomfield Farms products and photos of Sutherland's ancestors who guided the family's milling business. (Photo by Chris Aldridge)