A leading manufacturer of gluten-free foods in Europe will begin building its U.S. headquarters and processing plant here.
Construction on the $15 million project is expected to begin in the Pureland Industrial Park in March.
Founded in 1922 in Northern Italy, near Trieste, Schar Inc. began with baby food and shifted to gluten-free products 30 years ago. Schar USA has been testing the waters at the Rutgers Food Innovation Center, a business incubator in New Brunswick, for a few years and is now ready to launch a full-scale operation stateside.
Schar products have been sold in a number of American supermarkets, including ShopRite, Wegmans and Whole Foods since 2007, but all are imported.
Much of the company’s research has focused on how to tailor European recipes to please American palates.
“We will be making gluten-free bagels, which don’t sell in Europe or the U.K. And we have found that apricot is not a first choice flavor here, but it is abroad,” said Jasper Radeke, marketing director for Schar USA.
Other Schar products include breads, cookies, pasta, pizza crust, crackers, hot dogs and hamburger rolls and English muffins.
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