• Belshaw opens new Auburn, WA plant
• Former President and Owner Thomas E. Belshaw, inducted into the BEMA Hall of Fame
• Belshaw and Adamatic combine to form Belshaw Adamatic Bakery Group
• Thermoglaze in frozen donut taste challenge
• Century donut system upgrade
• Fran Kauth new Industrial Sales Manager, Eastern USA
• High Speed Industrial Cake Donut Cutter now available for 'gem' lines
• New Pressure Cutter for yeast-raised donuts available
• Monster Garage "Donut Cop Car" on patrol again

Belshaw opens new Auburn, WA plant

Nov. 29, 2007 - Belshaw has completed the move into a new 120,000 sq.ft. production facility in Auburn, WA,  20 miles south of Seattle.  The custom-built plant is 40% larger than the former Seattle plant. This will provide greater capacity and increased efficiencies, thereby allowing better lead times for our valued customers. Roger Faw, President of Belshaw Bros., stated that  "Belshaw has a long storied history in the baking industry, most of which lies in our previous facility where the Belshaw family started the business, but the time has come for us to spread our wings and grow as we strive to retain our prominence in the global sales environment we serve."  Belshaw’s new address is 814 44th Street NW, Suite 103, Auburn, WA 98001. The company’s phone number,  (206)322-5474 , is unchanged.

Click on the thumbnails below for images of the opening and of the new plant.

Former President and Owner Thomas E. Belshaw inducted into the American Society of Baking Hall of Fame

On March 3 this year, Thomas E. Belshaw, Former President and Owner of Belshaw Brothers from 1956 to 1991, was inducted into the ASB (American Society of Baking) Hall of Fame. Tom Belshaw (the son of co-founder Thomas A. Belshaw) was the owner, principal design engineer, and architect of the company's development for 25 years, during the most significant period of growth in Belshaw's history.

Indeed, Tom Belshaw laid the foundations for almost all of the company's operations today. Under his leadership Belshaw expanded from manufacturing cake donut depositors, to making large and small fryers, proofers, and other accessory equipment for donut production. The company also began selling in large quantities overseas, beginning with Europe and Japan, and entered another crucial phase in its development with production of large scale donut fryers and proofers for wholesale bakeries. He held degrees in both engineering and business, and brought his extensive knowledge into the factory wherever he went, together with a determination to earn the satisfaction and approval of every customer. Belshaw owes a great part of its success to Tom Belshaw.

After retiring from active duty at Belshaw, Tom served as President of BEMA (Bakery Equipment Manufacturer's Association).

Tom was represented by his wife Yvonne at his induction, since travel to BEMA's winter meeting in Chicago would have been difficult for him. Yvonne put in over 25 years of every-day service to the company alongside Tom, making her the ideal person to accept this honor. Congratulations to Tom Belshaw!

Click on the thumbnails below to see pictures of the event and of Tom Belshaw.

Belshaw and Adamatic form Belshaw Adamatic Bakery Group

Belshaw and Adamatic have combined to form Belshaw Adamatic Bakery Group, the national sales and support channel for the most extensive line-up of quality bakery equipment in North America.

Belshaw Adamatic Bakery Group will supply products by Belshaw, Adamatic, Victory Refrigeration, Stellar Steam, Northland and Eloma.

Roger A. Faw, currently President of Belshaw Brothers, will head the operation as President, with Gerald R. McGuffin as Vice-President of Retail Sales.

"With Belshaw Adamatic, retail and artisan bakers can get easy access the largest selection of bakery equipment in North America," says Gerry McGuffin. "Buyers owe it to themselves to put Belshaw Adamatic at the top of their equipment shortlist. And with consolidated sales and support, they can expect better service from the first call."

Thermoglaze in frozen donut taste challenge

If you are concerned about quality in a frozen donut program, only Belshaw's Thermoglaze will produce the results you are looking for. How do we know? We did our research! An independent study was conducted by Gilman Research in which participants compared frozen donuts made with Thermoglaze to non-Thermoglaze frozen donuts.

The results came out - and showed that the great majority of people preferred the Thermoglaze-produced donuts. The study confirmed that, according to the perceptions of most of the participants, frozen donuts tasted better and fresher when produced by Thermoglaze. Typical comments about the Thermoglaze-produced donut were:

“It looked a lot fresher and overall just tasted better.”
“I thought it was moister and fresher.”
“The other donut seemed like a day older.”

Find out more about Thermoglaze, the frozen donut system that makes hot donuts on demand in less than 5 minutes.

Century donut system upgrade

Belshaw continues to upgrade its Century Donut Production system designed for commissary and wholesale production.

Just about every component of Century's glazing, cooling and screen loading sections is completely redesigned with industrial-strength belting, wash-down motors, heavy-duty axles+bearings, variable speed controllers, and numerous features designed to facilitate production up to 720 dozen donuts/hour.

All Century systems are modular and can be configured with 45°, 90° and 180° turns as well as straight-line.

---> More about Belshaw 'Century' donut system

Fran Kauth: Belshaw's new Industrial Sales Manager, Eastern USA

Fran Kauth is Belshaw's new Industrial Sales Manager for Eastern USA. During his career Fran has been involved with all levels of personnel in the baking industry. Fran's wholesale bakery experience includes years of involvement with installations, formulations, fry times & line speeds of automated donut systems.

"I enjoy meeting new people and building relationships," Fran says, adding that over the years he "obtained many ideas & problem-solving techniques which I can incorporate into my position at Belshaw."

>>Contact Fran Kauth.

Industrial High Speed Cutter for 'gem' lines

Is your bakery currently running a gem (mini-donut) line? Belshaw has developed a High-Speed version of the Belshaw MultiMatic cutter (pictured left), which has long been the industry standard for cake donut production. The Multi-Spaced Cutter offers unprecedented production rates of 100+ cuts-per-minute at 20 cuts across the fryer!

The Belshaw High-Speed MS Depositor utilizes the latest technology in the form of Closed Loop Servo Motor Controls and a Dual Axis Motion Control System. Deposit cycles are synchronized precisely to the fryer so that the placement of the donut remains in the center of the pocket.

Talk to your Belshaw Industrial Sales Manager to find out if the High Speed cutter is right for your donut line.

Intro to Belshaw High Speed Cutter. (200kb, pdf)

New Pressure Cutter for yeast-raised donuts

extruded raised donuts on an mid-size automated line up to 600 dozen per hour is now possible! Pressure cutting is the simplest method of creating a raised donut - and the taste and texture are as sought-after as ever. With the new pressure cutter, Belshaw offers features such as :
• Plungers for rings and shells
• 4, 5, or 6 extruded donuts per row
• Synchronization with all automatic proofers
• In-motion cutter adjustment
• Menu-driven PLC touch-screen control
• Innovative full-access hopper for fast, easy refill and cleanout.

Talk to your Belshaw Industrial Sales Manager to find out if the Pressure Cutter is right for your production plans.

Intro to Belshaw Pressure Cutter. (150kb, pdf)
Video: Pressure Cutter (10mb, Windows Media)