Delivering value for growth at Gold Creek Foods, US
Gold Creek Foods in the USA required the installation of two new production lines to support the increased demand for a variety of breaded chicken products. The lines include two GEA CookStar 1000 GEN 3 ovens, multiple MultiDrum breaders and two freezers.
Customer profile
Gold Creek Foods is one of the USA’s largest full-service chicken processors, supplying foodservice and retail chains with a variety of breaded and roasted products. The company, which is based in Gainesville, Georgia, provides value added products efficiently at a competitive price.
"We look across the world, building appropriate relationships and testing with technology providers to understand what will work best in our business. GEA provides a lot of technical expertise and processing knowledge as well as ticking all the boxes for after-sales service and equipment."
Don Dubnik, Vice-President of operations
The challenge
The decision to invest in machinery to boost throughput at its plant near Atlanta, was taken with an eye on the future and the competition. Gold Creek wanted the flexibility and additional capacity to continue to grow and expand further in multiple markets by providing value added products efficiently at a competitive price.
Previous experience of GEA’s solutions and a proven track record in the breaded poultry sector, were crucial factors for Gold Creek, which has purchased two CookStar 1000 GEN 3 ovens, multiple MultiDrum breaders and two freezers. These are rolling out universally popular chicken products such as nuggets, fillets, patties and wings.
"This was a major capital investment and I’ve not been disappointed. GEA has been an outstanding partner to work with."
Don Dubnik, Vice-President of operations
The right performance
MultiDrums create the homestyle texture coating Gold Creek wants, while achieving high productivity, consistent quality and maximum uptime. The machines can be recharged with breadcrumbs without stopping and production lines can be switched quickly – another automated operation that takes away some of the more mundane labor tasks.
The products are cooked in GEA’s CookStar GEN 3 oven, a highly accurate piece of technology which cooks each product on the line evenly and rapidly without drying out the product so that juiciness is retained. The CookStar GEN 3 uses combined horizontal and vertical hot airflow in a patented impingement zone, for an even distribution of airflow across the width of the belt. This means that all products are rapidly and equally cooked at the same time. The two-direction airflow also reduces overall cooking time, allowing for increased throughput.
Completing the line-up are two freezers that meet stringent hygienic requirements, high product quality and yield, minimum energy consumption and effective frost management for long operating times – all boxes ticked again says Don. “The reliability of the freezers is outstanding. They are very low maintenance, very hygienic and easy to clean.”
Gold Creek’s employees also benefit from GEA’s CookStar master class cooking courses, which are designed to help operators understand, and get the best out of the technology, as well as a after-sales service program to keep the lines running at their peak around the clock. GEA’s team of experts is available through telephone conversations, video calls and in person if needed to share their knowledge of the systems.
