ATCHISON, KAS. — Michael Buttshaw, vice president of Ingredient Solutions and R&D, mentioned foodservice, including campus dining, as a potential opportunity for MGP Ingredients, Inc. during a Nov. 18 investor day.

“Keep your eyes and ears open because we're going to be launching a product very soon, and we feel it's going to get into the foodservice channel, and it's going to be very successful,” he said. “It's all part of trying to do the premium idea of how we make more money for our shareholders, how we expand margins further, where do we go with our products to actually even position ourselves for a bolt-on M&A.”

The Atchison-based company is looking to expand its Fibersym fiber ingredients and Arise protein ingredients into more categories.

“We're actually as a team looking at opportunities to how we can add to our business, margins that will be accretive, actually looking at new channels,” Mr. Buttshaw said. “We're not just going to look at B-to-B or ingredients. It might be a foodservice opportunity. It could be a retail product, maybe an emerging brand. We have a team in place that can evaluate these kinds of opportunities, and so that’s really a cool thing to have that added to our strategic approach for growth in the next five years.”

Starch ingredients from MGP Ingredients already have entered the pet treat category.

“We're actually getting into the pet treat segment now with some key customers, a brand new market entry, really holding out great promise for the future,” he said.

While known for its wheat-based ingredients, MGP Ingredients last year launched the ProTerra line of textured proteins, including a textured pea protein.

“We're going to continue to focus on getting the best combinations of proteins available,” Mr. Buttshaw said. “We're not going to stick with just wheat. Maybe we can now go with pea. We can go with soy. We can go with pulses. We actually are innovating combinations, which give more functionality in the marketplace.”