Sandridge Crafted Foods provides restaurants, grocery stores, schools, and healthcare facilities with “private label” prepared soups, salads, and other food items. Private label means the food is made by Sandridge but packaged under someone else’s brand. For example, if you want to try Sandridge soups, you can go to Heinen’s grocery stores and purchase any of the Heinen’s brand fresh soups. The Sandridge chefs have worked with the Heinen’s company to get the recipe exactly the way they want it so it tastes great every time!

In addition to great taste, Sandridge is very committed to food safety and their food scientists are always working on ways to keep food safe. They use a High Pressure Processing machine that puts the food under twice as much as pressure being deep in the ocean! This kills any naturally-occurring bacteria in the food and keeps it safer, longer. It also means they use less preservatives in their food.

View the Sandridge Crafted Foods Timeline Here

Vincent Sandridge got a job in food distribution, where he delivered packaged deli meat to stores. He heard about a company that was available for sale and was able to buy it. Launching Sandridge Gourmet Salads, he was able to manufacture perfect side dishes to go with those deli meats he used to deliver. Today, Sandridge has over 700 employees in Medina County alone.

The food industry is changing. There are a lot more large companies buying up small companies and introducing automation as much as possible. We find that changes the quality of the food, so we don’t auotmate things that would impact our product. We also find our grocery store and retail customers need more grab-and-go options. Where we could sell soup and salads in large containers and the store would put them into smaller containers, we now find we need to provide that service on our end. It can also be difficult to let the customer know about the quality of our food since we aren’t selling directly to them. But once we get that first time buyer, we can usually count on repeat business.

We used to be limited on where we could send things based on how long we could keep it cold and fresh so we stuck to the east coast. Today, we are able to ship anywhere in the country! Grandma’s Original Recipe brands sell in over 80 different foodservice and retail businesses throughout the country.

Sandridge Crafted Foods is committed to generating as little waste as possible to help protect the environment. In 2023, Sandridge’s efforts saved 14,638 trees. They are the largest water user in the county and work closely with the Medina County Sanitary Engineering Department to make sure the water coming out of the plant is as close to the same as came in as possible. They have also upgraded all their lighting and installed motion detectors so the lights stay off if no one needs them. They have saved over 70% of their electical use used by lighting in the past. Food waste has two paths from Sandridge. One is it goes to farmers who feed it to livestock. They receive the portions that are good for their animals and have all the nutrients, but couldn’t be used for human consumption. Anything else goes to the anaerobic digestors in Northeast Ohio. An anaerobic digestor uses bacteria to turn food waste into fertilizers and bio-fuel. They also recycle everything they can and in 2022 sent 6,252,181 lbs / 3,126.09 tons to recycling programs.

There are two main organizations that deal with food manufacturing in the United States. They are the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the FDA,  which is the Food and Drug Administration. Due to some recent packaging rules that were added, Sandridge added two additional people to their team in regulatory. That team makes sure they know what the rules are and that all rules are being followed. They also have an inspector from the USDA onsite in the plant on both shifts. This person works for the USDA but is in their plant to make sure everything is ok at all times. Recently the FDA did a random inspection where they took swabs and checked 185 surfaces for bateria or other problems. Sandridge passed all 185 tests!

People can apply through our website or any of our job postings. We also get a number of referrals from the people who work here because they like it and they bring family and friends. We have a program called “You Are the Recipe for Our Success”. It is a recognition program so we are constantly making sure our employees know how important they are and we aren’t successful without them.

Why do employees like to work here?

Our employees tell us they feel connected at every level. We launched the Sandridge Go app which gives them easy access to all their infomation about benefits, etc., but it also allows them to contact anyone in the company at any time. We are still small enough that an employee can speak to a Sandridge family member every day if they want. They feel personally challenged and have the opportunity for growth. We also have a strong wellness program where people can talk to counselors about their mental health, financial health, how to use their benefits, how to help themselves be more healthy, and more. We really want our employees to know how much we care about them!