Kenosha commissary churns out Roundy’s brand food

Roundy’s Commissary
5500 52nd St., Kenosha
Industry: Food manufacturing
Employees: 275
www.roundys.com

Everything from the chicken pot pies, salsa and soup to the orange juice, ice cream and deli salads you find at Roundy’s grocery stores has one thing in common. They were made at the Roundy’s Commissary in Kenosha, Roundy’s Supermarkets Inc.’s only food manufacturing facility.
Located on 17 acres near I-94, the 120,000-square-foot facility has been supplying fresh and prepared food to each of Roundy’s 150 grocery stores in Wisconsin and Illinois since 2007. Those stores consist of 89 Pick ’n Saves, four Metro Markets, 25 Copps, and 32 Mariano’s.
“Most people in Wisconsin don’t know this place exists,” said Roundy’s spokesman James Hyland. “They think it was shipped in from some warehouse, that someone slapped a label on it, and it went to 30 other different banners, but it didn’t. It was made here, there was a lot of thought that was put into it, and the recipes are proprietary.”

On a daily basis, the commissary’s 250 production workers make a variety of food that is shipped out the same day or the following morning. It is transported to Roundy’s 1.1 million-square-foot central warehouse in Oconomowoc before winding up in stores in sometimes as soon as a couple days.
In total, the commissary ships hundreds of thousands of cases of products each month, according to Mario Jedwabnik, vice president of manufactured foods.
The commissary’s first product was bottled water, but for nearly a decade it has gone on to manufacture food that falls into 449 major categories, each with its own subcategories.
The fact that the commissary makes so many different kinds of food is what Jedwabnik says sets it apart from other food manufacturers.
“It’s a very complex facility,” he said. “There’s like nine different manufacturing facilities under one roof. It’s very much an anomaly because usually when you go to a food manufacturer, you see a meat processing plant or a bakery or a fluid milk plant. There’s really only one item.”
The Roundy’s commissary, however, is comprised of multiple mini-manufacturing facilities that each focus on an area of production, such as baked goods, deli processing or soups.
The plant runs 24/7, and in any given day – or even hour – employees in each room can be found making something different.
That is not to say, though, that Roundy’s stores only sell its branded products.
“We pick our spots. We may have something in every aisle, but not everything in the aisle,” Jedwabnik said.
According to Hyland, it is unique for a grocer to operate a commissary where it makes its own food.
Among the advantages of doing so are the ability to follow trends, create new recipes, and conduct research and development. The commissary employs two full-time chefs, houses a testing kitchen, and incorporates biotechnology and science into its products.
The commissary strives for quality and authenticity by using 100 percent Florida oranges for its orange juice and flavorings from Italy for its gelato, but it likes to acquire as much locally sourced food as possible. For instance, 100 percent of its dairy products are from Wisconsin.
Safety is also a priority for the commissary, which is USDA- and FDA-certified. The former even has an on-site office at the commissary.
Incorporated in 1872, Roundy’s Supermarkets Inc. has approximately $4 billion in revenue, and employs approximately 22,000 people in Wisconsin and Illinois.