Baking&Snack - February 2013 - 56

J&J SNACK FOODS

bake time is longer and the temperature lower than the 4-minute and
approximately 500°F bake used for
traditional SUPERPRETZELs.
The newer filled-pretzel lines include Allen-Bradley touch-screen
controls that monitor the process —
much of it is in a temperature-controlled environment. On the other
hand, all controls on the conventional soft pretzel lines are mechanical, and proofing is done at ambient
temperatures, prompting mixer operators to adjust dough tempera-

After proofing, pretzels travel through a caustic bath that imparts their
signature color and taste.
Blane Sutton

ture and the amount of yeast in the
formula to accommodate for plant
conditions. Likewise, while PLCs
automatically control the baking
process on the filled-pretzel line,
oven temperatures on the other
pretzel lines must be adjusted manually by turning burners on and off
during the day.
For cooling on the conventional
lines, freshly baked pretzels flip upside down onto a belt under the ovens and then right side up to a second conveyor that leads to the spiral

/ Baking & Snack / February 2013

freezers. On the filled-pretzel lines,
however, the pieces travel on spiral
coolers for more delicate handling
that keeps toppings from falling off
the pretzels.

Plethora of packaging
The facility has four ammonia-fed
spiral blast freezers — one for the
extruded lines, one for lines No.
1 and No. 2, a third for lines No. 3
and No. 4, and a fourth for the twin
dream line. Each spiral is about
1,200-ft long, allowing the pretzels
to freeze at 20°F for 30 to 35 minutes. Overall, the freezers handle
about 15,000 lb of pretzels an hour.
After freezing, the products travel
along four belts across an enclosed
bridge to a separate packaging and
distribution warehouse. Koshercertified pretzels are then routed
to the top conveyor to prevent any
non-kosher materials from falling
on them.
In the packaging room, systems range from individual wrappers and retail packs to two bulk
packers. For its popular retail pack
found in supermarket freezer cases,
J&J uses UBE systems to stack six
SUPERPRETZELs and a packet of
encapsulated salt into a bag, which
receives a Kwik Lok closure. Prior
to cartoning at a rate of 45 per minute, a Smith’s Detection Eagle Pack
X-ray system scans the bag and actually conducts what Mr. Weber
called a “reverse X-ray” to make sure
it contains a salt pack. If the system
doesn’t see the salt pack, the package
is rejected. A laser printer burns a
“best by” date onto each carton.
Each line has Safeline metal detectors that check for ferrous and
nonferrous materials. A Rovema
vertical form/fill/seal machine
makes 5-lb stand-up bags. A Heat
and Control system is used to vertically form/fill/seal smaller packages and pillow packs. The largest is a 50-count foodservice pack
used for carnivals, sporting arenas

and amusement parks. Those packs
come with 5-oz salt packs.
Two bulk packers fill bags by
weight rather than count. For filled
pretzels, yellow-colored bags designate jalapeño- and cheddar-filled
pretzels, blue for cream cheese varieties and red for pizza flavors. The
room also houses a penny packer
that fills eight-count bags with frozen SUPERPRETZELs. “We’re able
to be very channel specific in what
we produce,” Mr. Weber noted.
Set at -10°F, the 70,000-sq-ft
holding freezer contains 4,000 pallet
positions, or 20 to 30 days of products, depending on the time of year.
HighJump software systems ensure
pretzels are shipped on a first-in,
first-out basis. Overall, the facility
ships about 24,000 cases daily.
To streamline distribution, the
warehouse pre-stages about 18
trucks worth of product on the
day prior to shipping. Because the
Pennsauken facility makes only
12,000 cases daily, half of the products — including churros and others — must be shipped in from J&J’s
sister plants. Complicating matters,
Mr. Weber notes, are partial pallets
that must be manually assembled.
“We do a lot of mixing and matching,” he said. “It’s not unusual to
have two or three varieties of handheld products on a single pallet.”
As the company grows, it’s taking
a much more methodical approach
to the market by conducting more
extensive consumer research to
ensure it is introducing customerdriven products in the channelspecific packaging.
“We need $25 million to $30 million in new products a year today,”
Mr. Law said. “We just can’t have an
idea du jour and take it to the market. However, I don’t think we’re
ever going to lose that blue-collar,
kind of lean, entrepreneurial spirit.
We’re approaching a billion dollars
in annual sales, but we still run J&J
like a million-dollar company.”

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Baking&Snack - February 2013

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