After four frustrating years of delays and facing an ultimatum from county officials, Fancy Pokket has cleared its final hurdle and can fire up its ovens.
The state inspection of the bread-making plant's boilers was completed Wednesday, five days short of the county-imposed Halloween deadline.
"Finally! It's about time!" said a relieved Mike Timani, the Canadian company's owner. "Now I have the CO (certificate of occupancy) and we can move forward and put people to work."
Timani said he will begin hiring immediately, starting with a seven-member administrative team followed by about two dozen other plant workers. He hopes to begin production by January.
Fancy Pokket has committed to creating 58 jobs within five years of its opening. Timani said he intends to hire locally and will advertise through SC Works.
Failure to meet the Oct. 31 deadline would have resulted in the company paying the county a fine of $274,000 and foreclosure on the 57,000- square-foot bakery, located in Lancaster's Air and Rail Industrial Park on Nebo Road off S.C. 9 near the county airport.
"We are so excited that Mike persevered through the frustration," said County Council member Larry McCullough. "He is bringing to Lancaster the largest gluten-free facility in North America."
Timani chose to locate here, a spinoff of his established 27-year-old New Brunswick-based bakery, because he can reach half the American population within a 14-hour drive.
In 2012, he signed an agreement with the county to expand his operation into the United States and tap into the gluten-free market, which currently has sales of $2.6 billion and is projected to rise to $6.2 billion by 2018. With three years of research and development on his gluten-free products, he predicts Fancy Pokket's sales will double within three years.
County officials expressed relief upon hearing the news that Fancy Pokket has met all code requirements and can begin production.
"This is good news," said Dean Faile, Lancaster County Chamber of Commerce president. "I am anxious for them to start hiring and start baking bread."
"This will be a great asset to the community," said McCullough. "It's a Class-A facility in the new industrial park, our first tenant, and now that he is in operation, that will draw other top-tier companies to the industrial park," he said.
"Mike is the epitome of the American Dream," McCullough said. "He worked his way up from a dishwasher at the Hilton. He was as frustrated as anyone else about the delays."
Jamie Gilbert, county economic development director, said this will bring Lancaster some much-needed positive attention.
"Timani is a success story, and I believe this will create a niche market and put us on the map," Gilbert said. "He has a great reputation in Canada and makes a high-quality product."
With Duracell closing its 430-worker Lancaster plant by mid-2019, we need the jobs that this will bring to our area, Gilbert said.
"The timing could not be better, with the holidays just around the corner," he said.
Timani never considered giving up on the gluten-free bakery, a spin-off of his very successful wheat-based bakery in New Brunswick, Canada, which he began in 1989. He invested his life's savings of $22,000 in a 1,000-square-foot facility with three employees. The bakery, expanded six times since it opened, now is a 45,000-square-foot building with 60 employees. It produces millions of pitas, bagels and tortilla wraps each year.
Timani emigrated to Canada from war-torn Lebanon in 1976. He got a job at The Toronto Airport Hilton, worked his way from busboy to upper management before opening his own restaurant/bakery in 1989.
Timani said his investment of $13 million will soon grow to $19 million with the addition of final packaging equipment and machinery.
Steam from the huge boilers will course through 600 feet of stainless steel pipes snaking through the spacious facility. He stood in front of several 3-foot-diameter, waist-high stainless steel bowls sitting on the floor.
"One of these bowls costs $10,000," he said. "I didn't cut any corners."
The stainless steel gives a feeling of pharmaceutical cleanliness. Even concrete walls are covered with sheets of smooth, satiny stainless steel.
"It's quality," he said. "Fifty years from now, stainless steel will look just like it does now."
Timani slowly ran his hands along the smooth, sleek pipes.
"It's clean and very hygienic," Timani added. "It never rusts."
"For people who eat my bread, I rest assured that they will never get sick. You can eat off the floor in here."
Special skylights were installed to filter sunlight in to soften the harsh, artificial fluorescent lighting.
With pride, he walked through the production process step-by-step, from the raw ingredients to the finished products that will soon snake their way through the industrial maze of machines.
Fancy Pokket will bake only gluten-free goods at the Lancaster plant. Those with celiac disease or gluten-intolerance will not have to worry about cross-contamination with wheat. The bakery will make pitas, sliced bread, hot dog and hamburger buns, pound cakes, brownies, muffins and cookies.
The fully-automated bakery is designed for high output. It can produce 6,500 loaves of bread per hour, or 10,000 bagels, 18,000 muffins and hot dog and hamburger buns, 25,000 brownies or cookies.
"Our gluten-free bread tastes like regular bread. If I did not tell you it was gluten-free, you would not know the difference," Timani said.
"It is 30 percent lighter than what is on the market now. It won't feel heavy on your stomach. It is like a nice, homemade bread."
McCullough backed Timani up on the taste of his product.
"I tasted the brownies, and they are some of the best I have ever eaten," McCullough said.
History of delays
The original incentive agreement with the county was signed almost four years ago, on Dec. 28, 2012. The company bought the property from the county for $100, with the understanding that construction would be complete and a CO would be in hand by August 2014. If not, the company would be required to pay $274,000 as reimbursement for the value of the property.
After additional delays near the end of 2014, county council unanimously granted two separate 90-day extensions for the company to obtain its CO. Under the terms of the second extension, the company had until the end of June 2015 to finish the project.
Though the company missed that deadline, the council did not start talking about collecting the $274,000 fine until a year later.
This past May a frustrated county council blew the dust off the incentive agreement and issued an ultimatum. No more extensions or waivers. Timani must get a certificate of occupancy by Oct. 31 or pay the penalty.
Timani explained he did not know the rules and regulations of the county and state and felt a bit misled as he relied on the local general contractor, lawyers and county officials to steer him in the right direction.
Timani said he has already spent $13 million of the company's own money on the project, without any borrowing.
"We have financed over 70 percent of the project without a lender in the U.S.," he said. "All of these funds have been taken from our facility in Canada."
To obtain the CO, he needed to finalize the installation of all of the necessary equipment, but without financial backing, it was difficult to get gas and electricity to the equipment for the inspections, he said.
Timani is now ready to move forward and let the past be.
"We have Keer from China, Continental Tire from Germany and now Fancy Pokket from Canada," McCullough said. "We have others looking at this area. We need to start positioning ourselves for more international companies coming in."
10/30/16
Follow Reporter Mandy Catoe on Twitter @MandyCatoeTLN or contact her at (803) 283-1152
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