Sweet and spicy aromas fill the air at Chocolate Inn / Taylor & Grant (UPIC: CHOCINN) as the ingredients for peppermints and cinnamon mints take a tumble in a ribbon mixer, soon to be destined for a variety of customization processes that are employed by the Freeport, New York-based manufacturer.
Pressing out breath-freshening tablets year-round has allowed CITG to hone its process, says President David Miller. “CITG has fine-tuned the production of mints with increased efficiencies, flavor profiles and customizable shapes, all in the highest food safety standards, and we produce a best-in-class quality product.”
In addition to mints, CITG produces logoed chocolate, wrapped buttermints and candies, homemade truffles “and more than 10,000 confectionary SKU’s in different and creative packaging,” says Miller.
From Powder To Packaging
Micromints ®, CITG’s trademarked mints, begin life in a ribbon mixer designed to mix powders. The mixer runs until ingredients are fully integrated and homogenous. Mixed powder then goes to state-of-the-art, high-volume tablet presses.
Micromints primarily come in two flavors, peppermint and cinnamon. “As the manufacturer of mints, we have the ability to customize flavors for large custom orders,” says Miller. “In the past year we have produced flavors ranging from root beer to strawberry to tea.”
The mixed powder is poured into gravity-fed hoppers, which continuously cycle to feed the punch presses. Tablets are formed at high speed by pressing together multiple sets of top and bottom punches. The punches compress the powder into hard tablets and, once ready, they are deposited into a large bulk container for dust collection and metal detection.
“For large-volume orders, CITG has the ability to create custom punches,” Miller says. “Imagine themed movie characters or corporate logos, all in the shape of a mint!”
Completed tablets are fed into a vibratory feeder where excess powder and broken pieces are separated before tablets go through a metal detector. This ensures that clients receive only “full mint” tablets and not pieces, and that all product is food safe. Clean tablets fall into their final containers, are sealed and packed, and ready to be placed into one of several packaging options.
“As the only SQF ( Safe Quality Food)-certified manufacturer, we take food safety very seriously, and therefore, metal detection is part of our normal production process,” Miller says. “SQF represents the highest global standard of food safety.”
The finished Micromints are inserted into one- to four-color process, imprinted mint cards, mint tins or glassware. Once the tins are printed and the Micromints inserted, the tins are then shrinkbanded to preserve freshness and to depict the ingredients that are printed on the wrap.
CITG’s wrapped mints also provide opportunities for near-limitless customization. “Given the tremendous efficiencies in our plant, we believe our wrapped candies are the best value in the promotional industry. These items are great for banks, food-service restaurants, office buildings, to name a few.”
>>All Wrapped Up
Supplier – Chocolate Inn / Taylor & Grant
Founding date – 1979
Principals – David Miller and Lance Stier
Primary products – Logoed chocolate, mints, imprinted tins, wrapped buttermints and candies, homemade truffles
Size of facility – 50,000 square feet
Number of employees – Up to 125
Specialized equipment – Sophisticated chocolate molding equipment that produces 1D-3D pieces, Direct-digital printers to directly imprint on tins; mint production equipment; hot stamp/pad print/sunscreen print equipment; high-speed bagging and bar wrapping equipment; liquid lens and ribbon printing equipment