Candies owe their fillings to Minnesota company

MINNEAPOLIS - Ever wonder how M&M's get their crunchy shells? Or how Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and Pop-Tarts get their decadent fillings? Or how that perfect dollop of creamy goodness sneaks into the middle of an Oreo?

The answer lies deep inside Graco Inc.'s factory in Minneapolis, where towering pumps and sprayers are manufactured. Those machines let American food factories rhythmically dispense or squirt gallons and gallons of food ingredients - from peanut butter to tomato paste and Godiva chocolate fillings.

With little hoopla, Graco has quietly built a business of Food and Drug Administration-approved pumps and spraying machines that are renowned within the food industry. The unit is still small but one of Graco's fastest-growing segments, doubling since 2010.

Food companies consider Graco's technology sacred, although the Minneapolis company - which employs 3,600 global employees and has $1.3 billion in annual revenue - is more likely to talk about its much larger units that make industrial pumps and sprayers that paint vehicles, insulate homes or fireproof oil rigs.

'Every M&M in the world is made with our equipment, and we pump the stuffing for all Oreo cookies” in Asia and Canada, said Kevin Jagielski, sales and marketing manager of Graco's Process Division. 'Doritos uses our (oil) sprayers in their tumblers so the seasonings stick to each chip. We do the fruit for Pop-Tarts. It's a part of Graco most people never think about. But (food processors) know that what Graco really specializes in is pumping the really difficult and thick fillings that have high viscosity. We are the market leader.”

Other customers include General Mills, Cadbury, Ben & Jerry's, Samuel Adams beer and Tropicana. The Schwan Food Co., based in Marshall, Minn., uses Graco's food-moving machines to make frozen pizza and sauces. Graco's equipment also transports Coca-Cola's syrups, Campbell's soups, Skippy's peanut butter, McDonald's ketchup and Kemps' milk through factories for bottling, canning, molding and bagging.

Graco started handling food in 1990, but officials didn't get serious about growing the business until 2010 when the company launched the line of FDA-approved products. The machines, aimed at high-volume food factories, often range from $40,000 to $150,000 each.

In 2011 and 2012, Graco managers began hitting food trade shows, flying equipment distributors and food executives into Minneapolis for demonstrations and producing training videos for food clients worldwide.

Jagielski said the new emphasis on food has increased Graco's 'Process Division” by 5 percent a year. In addition to food, the division makes sanitary and industrial pumps for cosmetic, pharmaceutical and oil firms and generates about $250 million in annual sales.