Japanese snack producer Calbee watches damage, stays at work

Friday’s massive earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan had minimal impact on Calbee Inc., the Japanese snack food manufacturer and its American partners, including RDO-Calbee Foods of Boardman.

Calbee has about 2,600 employees in Japan, where it operates 10 manufacturing plants. The company also has four affiliated factories, seven distribution centers and at least seven sales offices.

Gene Jensen, president of RDO-Calbee Foods at the Port of Morrow has been in constant contact with his Japanese partners.

“Within hours of the earthquake, the Calbee management team was in touch with me and sharing what they knew,” he said. “The first priority for Calbee was getting an accounting of their employees across the country and verifying their safety. It appears that all are accounted for and they are safe.”

None of Calbee’s operations are in the immediate vicinity of the major damage.
“The next priority was evaluating their facilities for damage,” Jensen said. “They have identified the damaged plants and are working on engineering solutions in those areas.”

Undamaged plants are operating, he said, and company workers are developing a modified distribution plan to get their food products to those areas where it’s needed most.

- PotatoPro wishes much strength to everyone affected by the terrible tragedy in Japan -

The location of the Calbee factories in Japan