Founded in 1927 by Lawrence Switzer and J. Roy Davis, Sr., S&D Coffee boasts a green bean unloading, handling, and silo storage system and four commercial roasters with a capacity of 100 million pounds a year. But the most recent news is all about S&D tea and their specialty, custom tea blends for hotels and hotel tea programs. Improvements completed in 2006 at their 160,000-square-foot tea handling facility have doubled blending capacity to 24 million pounds annually.
“We designed this system in-house from the ground up,” say Brian Bradley, VP for product development, and Joe Doyle, tea buyer for S&D. “The specially designed mixers and feed bins provide a 100 percent closed-loop, computer-controlled system,” says Bradley. “This offers terrific consistency of the finished brewed product and ensures that the tea leaves are free from potential environmental and human contamination.”
The state-of-the-art tea blending facility was completed to allow greater flexibility to formulate customized tea blends for hotels and other customers and to meet the manufacturing demands of S&D tea brands. This expansion will position S&D as a major custom tea blending vendor for hotels and ensure a healthy tea supply and to keep up with anticipated growth over the next decade.
“Based on information from the U.S. Tea Association, we believe S&D is the largest supplier of iced tea to the foodservice industry,” Doyle says. “Ten years ago, iced tea was seasonal. Now it’s a year-round drink, and annual volume has quadrupled.”
From leading restaurant chains to large lodging and c-store chains, healthcare, and office facilities, S&D currently serves more than 70,000 customers nationwide. Their extensive service network provides a turnkey approach for S&D beverages—everything needed to serve them, including brewing and dispensing equipment—plus 24-hour emergency toll-free phone service.–ADK
Founded in 1927 by Lawrence Switzer and J. Roy Davis, Sr., S&D Coffee boasts a green bean unloading, handling, and silo storage system and four commercial roasters with a capacity of 100 million pounds a year. But the most recent news is all about S&D tea and their specialty, custom tea blends for hotels and hotel tea programs. Improvements completed in 2006 at their 160,000-square-foot tea handling facility have doubled blending capacity to 24 million pounds annually.
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