All American Foods

All American Foods, Inc.

Kraft Foods Logo
Company type	Corporation
Industry	Food Processing
Founded	1987, Mankato, Minnesota, MN
Website	http://www.aafoods.com/

All American Foods, Inc. is the largest dry dairy blending company headquartered in the United States. They currently process over 60 million pounds, serving over 100 customers in 150 different locations around the globe.

Jeff Thom, (Chief Executive Officer), started All American Foods, Inc. as a sole proprietorship in 1987. After enormous growth and success, All American Foods was incorporated in the state of Minnesota.

All American Foods is headquartered in Mankato, Minnesota, USA, just south of Minneapolis. They combine different food ingredients so customers can buy those combinations in a bulk unit in 30 to 2,500 pound bags. A bag could have two to 15 different ingredients. You won’t see their name though on a well-known candy bar, ice cream carton, salad dressing bottle, frozen entree box, cheese product, etc., but the ingredients they have mixed, are inside of a lot of them.

History

All American Foods

Mankato Facilities

Jeff Thom started All American Foods in 1987 with an SBA loan. At that time, we had leased one of the old Kayot buildings. Getting the SBA loan when he started All American Foods was a lot of work for Jeff Thom. He borrowed everything he could to get All American started. He had some rental property he borrowed against, sold life insurance policies.

==Timeline ==

• March 1987: All American Foods, Inc. was founded by Jeff A. Thom and operated until January 11, 1988, as a sole proprietorship. At that time, All American Foods, Inc. became and operated as a corporation under the laws of the State of Minnesota. The initial corporate location was in Mankato, on Industrial Road and consisted of 11,000 square feet.
• June 1989: All American Foods, Inc. (AAFI) built a corporate office, quality assurance lab and manufacturing facility at 121 Mohr Drive. The 15,700 square foot facility was completed and put into use in September of that year. The Industrial Road facility was then used as a pilot facility for processing and packaging. This facility grew to approximately 32,000 square feet with a 16,000 square foot addition in 1991.
• May 1993: AAFI made the decision to develop a corporate campus in Mankato to facilitate growth. After more land was acquired on Mohr Drive, construction of a second processing and packaging facility began. At this time, the use of the original 1987 start-up facility was discontinued. With an addition, early in 1995, this facility grew to approximately 28,000 square feet.
• April 1996: All American Foods, Inc. continued to acquire land along Mohr Drive growing the Mankato campus to approximately 14 acres. Construction then began on a third processing and packaging facility. This 28,000 square foot, full production, facility was completed in 1997 and incorporated employee training areas along with production and warehouse facilities.
• June 1998: A neighboring building was acquired by All American Foods, Inc. for use as engineering and maintenance shop areas.

All American Foods

Waseca Facility

• March 2000: AAFI acquired a 70,000 square foot processing and packaging facility in Waseca, MN (formerly Waseca Foods). This facility is located on 7 acres in the southern industrial park of Waseca and includes an automated packaging line for 30 to 60 pound bags.
• November 2001: In a move to strengthen its position as a leading supplier of specialty ingredients and custom processing, AAFI announced the opening of its Technical Center located in Mankato, MN. Technical and application assistance are offered to current and potential customers from this facility. The AAFI technical center is designed to bring applications from start to finish. Utilization of this facility's equipment, along with its close proximity to pilot plant and manufacturing facilities, adds additional support to those efforts.
• May 2002: Further processing equipment was added to the Waseca facility to allow for an expansion of our liquid handling and additional processing capabilities.
• June 2004: Further processing equipment was added to our original Mohr Drive facility in Mankato, which incorporated our second automated packaging line for 30 to 60 pound bags.
• June 2006: All American Foods, Inc. acquired the assets of Forester Foods, Inc., which included its line of dairy blends that are sold primarily to frozen dessert manufacturers. The products and technical expertise associated with this acquisition helped to further expand the Pro Mix® line.

Leadership Team

• CEO - Jeff Thom
• President – Rod Mitchell
• Vice President – Tom Roessler
• Finance Director – Kevin Olson
• Sales Director of Manufacturing Services – Connie Stokman
• Quality Assurance Director – Shawn Schlueter
• Technical Services Director – Kathy Jacobsen
• Human Resources Director – Ann Jones
• National Sales Director – Chad Anderson