Metropolitan Baking Co., one of Hamtramck’s oldest and most successful businesses, has completed a major expansion of its bakery, adding 37,000 square feet on its 20-acre property.
The expansion features a conveyorized high-speed bun and roll line with a state-of-the-art proof box, oven, and baking equipment, boosting the bakery’s capacity by nearly 40 percent. It also includes new shipping docks, storage space, and an expanded break room for employees. The company recently has hired 25 new employees.
“We believe that since we’re baking some of the most consistent and highest quality bread, bun, and roll products in the country, word will continue to spread that partnering with us is a great idea,” says George Kordas, president of Metropolitan Baking Co., and grandson of the founder.
“We also wanted to support our employees and community. We accomplished that by adding new jobs — the vast majority of our workforce lives within five miles of the bakery — and we created a new break room with improved kitchen facilities, locker rooms, televisions, and furniture. We have an incredible, dedicated team, which is why we were confident in this latest expansion.”
Kordas says the new shipping docks enable Metropolitan to reroute the majority of truck traffic to commercial roads, lessening the impact on neighborhood streets.
Having experienced significant growth in recent years, the bakery now delivers its Michigan-made products to customers across the country. Spring and summer demand is especially high for buns and rolls, while restaurants, schools and universities are primary customers in the fall and winter.
Best known for its Coney Island steamer hot dog buns and Pullman breads, Metropolitan now produces a wide variety of items including brioche buns, slider buns, dinner, sub, and Kaiser and onion rolls. Its products are sold under several brand names, primarily “Kordas’.”
Kordas says Metropolitan begins “first dough” production at 1 a.m., with final packaging happening around midnight six days a week. In full operation, the bakery produces 240 dozen buns per minute on its bun/roll line and roughly 140 loaves of bread per minute on the bread line. The bakery uses roughly 800,000 pounds of flour on a weekly basis.
For its expansion project, Metropolitan declined a potential grant incentive from the Michigan Agriculture Commission and did not pursue other grant opportunities.
“Our view is that a financially stable city can do more for its people and infrastructure, (and offer) better schools and improved public safety,” Kordas says. “Hamtramck has been good to us — it’s a wonderful community — and the last thing we want to do is slow down progress. Instead, we want to grow opportunities and take our Detroit pride to customers across the country.”
“Metropolitan Baking Co. is an 80-year-old family-run business that started operations in 1945 in two Hamtramck homes. We are a debt free company with a conservative attitude, so we tend to be very methodical when reinvesting in our facility.”
Kordas says his father, Jim, envisioned a more automated plant and now is “beaming with pride.”
“I wish my grandfather could see this moment — the shiny new state-of-the-art facilities and our reach across the country would certainly impress him, but what would matter most is knowing that Metropolitan still carries forward his passion for quality baking and his respect for the people who make it possible – our employees and our loyal customers.”
Roncelli Inc. of Sterling Heights was the general contractor on the expansion project.
To read a DBusiness magazine article on Metropolitan Baking Co., visit here.
