RFI Ingredients bulking up on finished product manufacturing capabilities

06-Dec-2012 - Last updated on 06-Dec-2012 at 14:23 GMT

Photo courtesy RFI Ingredients

RFI Ingredients, a vertically integrated manufacturer of a range of natural and organic ingredients, is expanding its Loveland, CO facility to add encapsulation, powder filling and bottling capabilities as part of an aggressive expansion push.

The 20,000-square foot facility is already has liquid extraction, fermentation, drying and blending capabilities in place. But the new additions will complete the picture painted by the company’s motto, “Field to Formula.”

“I think we are one of the few companies if not the only company to say that we grow and process the ingredients and then finish bottle and encapsulate them,” RFI founder and CEO Jeff Wuagneux told NutraIngredients-USA.

More than a contract manufacturer

While RFI is now capable of manufacturing finished products for clients, Wuagneux is not fond of the term “contract manufacturer.”

“All those contract manufacturers go out and get business from companies that have existing formulas. Maybe they help them source ingredients once in a while,” he said. “But all those kind of companies buy raw materials from people like me.”

“We actually create turnkey finished formulas for clients. And usually 50% to 70% of the raw materials are materials that we control.”

“We are really an ingredient manufacturer first,” he said.

RFI offers a wide range of natural and organic ingredients. Their offerings include fruit and vegetable powders, a line of antioxidants under the Oxyphyte brand name, a range of phytonutrient extracts and ingredients sources from spirulina and chlorella.

“We have a pretty broad spectrum of ingredients that we control. We have a broader palate from which to choose,” he said.

RFI has also recently purchased a California manufacturing facility that complements the new lines in Colorado, Wuagneux said

“Between Colorado and California we have powder fill, capsule fill, stick packs and a pretty broad range of filling and finished packaged capabilities,” he said.

The expanded Loveland facility also features RFI’s new proprietary extraction equipment, Dynamic Dual Motion (DDM) Extraction. According to the company, DDM is a counter-current extraction system that produces highly concentrated flavors, concentrates and botanical extracts. The extraction process is designed to use minimal solvent, eliminating the need for further thermal concentration, which can degrade ingredients.

Additional plant under construction

But the Loveland expansion and the California purchase are only pieces of RFI’s expansion puzzle. The company has a 55,000-square-foot facility under construction in Broomfield, CO in the northern Denver suburbs.

“I’m a private company that grows organically,” Wuagneux said. “I think that’s why we feel so excited about where we are. We are really in a very interesting place in the industry. We have been able to develop a vertical system that gives us a very strong position in being cost effective.”