The Demand for Smucker’s® Uncrustables® is Unprecedented…So is Our Work to Meet It
Feb 27, 2023
First, an acknowledgement: We know some of you may have had challenges in finding your favorite Smucker’s® Uncrustables® recently. We understand the frustration, but we want you to know we are doing everything we can to help remedy it.
The challenge, in addition to enduring external impacts, is that demand for the product is unprecedented. And we mean, REALLY unprecedented. We literally cannot keep up with the demand we see for the product, but we have been aggressive in investing to help keep our fans’ crustless favorite on shelves.
Over the last three years we have launched and announced commitments to three new manufacturing and development locations. We dramatically increased production capacity with the launch of our Longmont, Colorado facility and will extend this with our newest facility, which will be located in McCalla, Alabama. In addition, we have also continued to invest in enhancing how we make the product. This includes announcing plans for the Pilot Research Lab, a research and development facility sitting on our Orrville campus, which will help us evaluate new innovation concepts and identify opportunities to enhance production efficiency.
The launch of our Longmont location expanded on the hard work of our dedicated employees in Scottsville, Kentucky, which had been the only facility dedicated exclusively to Uncrustables®. Along with the initial launch in 2019, we recently completed a phase 2 expansion at Longmont, adding 240,000 square feet of production space. Both the initial launch and this planned expansion have been expedited as our teams work tirelessly to get additional production capacity live as soon as possible.
In McCalla, we will have a new state-of-the-art facility, scheduled to begin production of the frozen sandwiches in calendar year 2025. Construction of the facility and production will occur in three phases over multiple years to allow us to begin production as we continue to grow capacity.
The Pilot Research Lab will startup in spring 2023. The new facility will give our Consumer Research & Development (R&D) team the ability to test innovation concepts and evaluate new processes that can enhance the efficiency and productivity of our Uncrustables® manufacturing facilities without impacting current production in any manner.
Simply put, we are humbled by the love consumers have for this brand and we are passionately committed to delivering on their desire for the product. The pace of expansion in support of the brand has been historic for our organization, and it reflects our sincere dedication to delivering for our consumers.
With all this said, we understand this doesn’t change the fact that yesterday when you went to your local grocery store and couldn’t find your or your child’s favorite flavor of Uncrustables® you were disappointed. Please know that we recognize this and there are countless employees across our Company who are working every single day toward solutions to help ensure we are able to deliver for you tomorrow.