Kate’s Real Food, producers of small-batch energy bars made from organic ingredients, is expanding its production with a new facility in Bedford, Penn. The new facility will enable Kate’s to go from producing 1 million bars to 12 million bars a year, said the company.
Kate’s Real Food was founded in Jackson, Wyo., in 2010 and soon moved over Teton Pass to Victor, Idaho. The factory in Victor houses about a dozen people in production, along with company executives. The new 20,000-square-foot facility in Bedford will employ more than 30 people. The Bedford facility doesn’t signal the end of Kate’s longtime home in Idaho, howeve. The Kate’s offices and smaller production will remain in Victor, in addition to serving as Kate’s “test kitchen” for product development.
Kate’s is co-owned by founder, Kate Schade and CEO Bruce Thaler, an investor who joined the company after Schade began the business. Thaler is from Pennsylvania and identified Bedford as a good place for the company to grow. The new facility will have excess capacity that will allow it to accommodate other firms in co-packing arrangements.
“We are excited to expand our operations in Bedford,” said Kate Schade, Founder of Kate’s. “The biggest obstacle that we face at Kate’s is our limited production facility here in Victor. We are ready for greater exposure and ultimately getting more bars in the mouths of people who want them.”
