There’s No Such Thing as a Little Baking at Cookie Plant

Any time of day or night, the intersection of Roscoe Boulevard and Woodley Avenue smells as sweet as a giant oven filled with cookies--thousands of them.

That wonderful aroma wafting through car windows is from the Keebler Co. bakery, which took over the plant from Safeway in 1982. One of six Keebler bakeries around the country, the 124,000-square-foot Van Nuys plant operates around the clock. Its 250 workers are on a three-shift schedule in a never-ending cycle that produces 125,000 cookies and 750,000 crackers per hour.

From flour to finish, it takes about two hours to produce a batch of baked goods. The necessary dough ranges from 2,000 pounds for crackers to 2,300 pounds for cookies. The ingredients are mixed, kneaded, flattened, stamped, tested for weight and quality, baked in narrow, 300-foot-long ovens, tested again, wrapped, packaged and boxed before being sent to the loading dock for shipment to more than 75,000 retail outlets.

“Basically we’re the same as any kitchen at home,” said George Tuinstra, 57, bakery director.

Right, just like grandmother’s.