That plant is now in operation in the United States, in Suffolk, Virginia. With buildings completed and machinery operational in the plant. The landscaping is in an area bounded by trees and a lake. Garden City Ammonia Program (GCAP) trained all of their operators in Garden City, Kansas and the the advance training was done on the equipment at Suffolk, Virginia. Randy Williams was very impress with the dedication from the complete Sara Lee Engineering and Operation Team.

Originally Egbert Douwes only sold to the local villagers, but gradually Douwes and his descendants built up a company that was to become the Dutch market leader for its core products, coffee and tea. The company has always sought an affinity with its customers. Collecting coffee and tea coupon stamps on packages – saved up and exchanged for items at the special DE (Douwe Egberts) gift shops – remains a way of life in many Dutch households.

Worldwide operations
Since 1978 Douwe Egberts has been allied to the Sara Lee Corporation, based in Chicago, which runs operations in 55 countries and employs almost 155,000 people, opening up new horizons worldwide. Today Sara Lee/DE, one of the world’s three largest coffee roasters, is a multinational packaged consumer- goods company with annual sales of 5.1 billion euros (USD 5 billion).

But at Sara Lee/DE’s Joure plant, coffee roasting has given way to liquid coffee production. Monitoring, research, studies and expertise have all pointed to growth in the out-of-home coffee market, so Sara Lee/DE has developed a unique high–speed coffee system for professional use, based on concentrated liquid–coffee technology.

New plant
Now the largest operator worldwide in the out-of-home coffee market, the company owes a lot to its Cafitesse coffee system sold in more than 40 countries. A smaller compact version, Contenta, which came to the market more recently, has been contributing even more to global expansion. Growth has been such that a second plant for production of liquid coffee is required to meet future demands.