Carolina Foods built its business on a commitment to quality and food safety for its 90-year history, and its new facility in Pineville, NC, offered an opportunity to use the latest in technology and engineering to elevate its food safety commitment. The South End bakery has been SQF Level 3 certified for 13 years, and the company has been GFSI certified since the certification’s deployment two decades ago. 

“ ‘If it’s not safe, it isn’t food’ is the way we see it,” said Sonya Yalla, director of quality assurance and R&D. “The foundation of our high quality is consistency.” 

Quality checks are made on an hourly basis on every production line at a minimum. Technicians check dough temperatures, weights and internal product temperature. Metal detection is the main critical control point. The quality assurance team is well-staffed with 14 members, and Carolina Foods has an in-house lab and lab technician. The team even tests its oils for moisture and free fatty acid content. All these results are shared with the production team, Yalla explained, as the frontline employees are quality’s first line of defense. 

“We want our team members to not only know how or what they’re doing but also why they are doing it,” Yalla explained.  

Leadership strives for a no-blame/no-shame culture when it comes to quality and food safety issues so that the production and quality teams are more collaborative. 

“Quality assurance can often be the police on the production floor, but we just want to get to the root of the issue,” she said. “That culture has created one where potential issues are proactively identified by our production team.” 

In addition to ensuring product meets quality and safety standards, Yalla leads the R&D team as well to develop new products for the Duchess brand and Carolina Foods’ private label and co-manufacturing customers. Dan Myers, chief executive officer of Carolina Foods, noted the company is seeing substantial growth both for its Duchess brand and private label and that both show the most opportunity for growth in grocery and c-store. 

To meet customers’ needs, Carolina Foods staffs in-house food scientists to develop new products and a team of graphic designers to develop designs for packaging. Providing this range of services allows Carolina Foods to expedite innovation. 

“We’re a one-stop shop for customers wanting to innovate,” Myers said. 

Just as data fuels operational efficiencies, Carolina Foods looks at consumer data to inform its own innovation. In the company’s wheelhouse of indulgent sweet goods, Myers said the data seems to point to new package formats that lend themselves to portability and convenience. Flavor extensions are also popular requests from customers. 

According to Myers, Falfurrias acquired Carolina Foods because the firm saw a manufacturer of high-quality products that competes well in the national marketplace. As the firm has invested in the business, it hasn’t forgotten that the company’s growth has been a direct result of that commitment to quality and freshness. Every step and every turn have been guided by this commitment to take Carolina Foods to the next level and become one of the most respected companies in the baking industry.

This article is an excerpt from the July 2024 issue of Baking & Snack. To read the entire feature on Carolina Foods, click here.