Mac Williams, Chamber President
August/September 2019
Recently, I had a chance to visit the new Lotus Bakery facility under construction in Mebane. It has been two years since the Belgium-based producer of Biscoff cookies (known as “the airline cookie”), announced plans to construct its first US-based production facility.
After a year of facility planning and another year of constructing, it is now close to opening. During the tour, they were testing one of the equipment lines to be used in baking and packaging the cookies. It was fascinating.
We saw the area where the production starts as raw material, then is brought into the facility, and through a complex system of piping and machinery, is mixed to make the cookie dough. From there, it is transported to the ovens, and progresses through a series of temperatures, where the dough is transformed into cookies.
Afterwards, the cookies go to another system of machines that handle the packaging of the baked cookies.
While I am proud to have Lotus and their facility here, and I love the cookies, this piece isn’t about either Lotus or the cookies. It is about commitment to excellence.
I found myself taking in all the investment by the company and all the work by the employees and using all the available and proprietary food science knowledge to produce…. a cookie – no, actually, millions of them, and all exactly the same. Everybody and everything in the facility was committed to that goal of excellence in product quality.
Lotus is not unique in that goal. Businesses of all types and sizes are also committed to product or service excellence. They do not survive if they are not.
The Alamance Chamber is, similarly, committed to service excellence. We strive to provide a purposeful and enjoyable member experience. We strive to provide a return on the investment the public and private sectors make in our economic development program. We strive to be an impactful partner with other community organizations and institutions to make our communities great places to live, work, and play.
I enjoy coming to work in the morning, and over a cup of coffee, talking with the fine people on our staff and preparing for whatever might come our way during the day. Luckily, I can have a delicious Biscoff cookie with my morning coffee, soon to be baked right here in Alamance County.