TastyBake ISL

[Russ Bellinis]

Senior moment! I was thinking of bakeries in terms of breads, cakes, and snacks, like Hostess cupcakes, Twinkies, etc. I completely forgot that cereal companies would also be bakeries. I think a cereal company would be perfect. The biggest ones would be Nabisco, Post, General Mills, or Kellogs. The large grocery chains such as Krogers, Safeway, or Albertsons, also sell store brands of cereal, but I don't know if they have their own bakery. I suspect that cereals such as corn flakes, shredded wheat, or Cherrio types may be produced by one of the big bakery companies and boxed in packaging with the generic branded graphics for the specific store company. They would receive car loads of grains, flour, and sugar in covered hoppers that would be stored in silos. They receive tank cars full of corn syrup, molasses?, and vegetable oils of various types. Any liquids received in bulk, would be unloaded to and stored in tanks. They also use honey for sweetener, but I've never seen a tank car labeled for honey, so it may come in large cans or drums in box cars. They would also receive box cars loaded with thin cardboard and wax paper for the cereal boxes and liners as well as corrugated cardboard for packing cases. They would ship out box cars loaded with cereal to warehouse distribution centers all over the country. Paper is heavy so it would come in in 50 foot box cars I think, perhaps 60 footers, but the cereal is very light in weight since whether flaked, puffed, or shredded it is still mostly air, so I suspect that the finished products would be shipped out in the largest box cars available, and I'm sure that a lot of product would be shipped out in trucks to more local warehouses. Also a grocery company with a distribution warehouse nearby might send their own trucks over to pick up products. Receiving tracks for covered hoppers would be near silos. Tank cars would unload near the tanks with manifolds designed to avoid any chance of cross contamination between oils and sweeteners, and the receiving dock for box car loads would be on a different side of the plant from the shipping tracks. A big plant shipping out products by both trucks and rail would have those two shipping docks separated so that trucks would not be blocking rail spurs.

After I posted this, it dawned on me that they would also receive glue for the cereal boxes and cases. I don't know if the glue would be brought in in liquid form in tank, powdered in covered hoppers, or in cans or boxes in box cars.