General Mills Cedar Rapids Makes Food the World Loves
Demand for products made at General Mills Cedar Rapids has increased dramatically since the pandemic.
Sponsored by: General Mills
Like many of her neighbors in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, for years Christine Tiedeman knew that General Mills Cedar Rapids produced cereal.
But after becoming the plant’s human resources manager in 2021, she quickly learned that the 50-year-old plant is important to the global food manufacturer’s retail revenue with tasty foods ranging from Betty Crocker frosting to Fruit Roll-Ups and other fruit snacks and, of course, cereals like Cheerios, Lucky Charms and Count Chocula.
“The Cedar Rapids plant is a big part of the broader General Mills network,” Tiedeman says. “General Mills is about making food the world loves, and we make a lot of it right here in Cedar Rapids.”
Demand for products made at General Mills Cedar Rapids has increased dramatically since the pandemic, triggering a recent equipment upgrade to accommodate production of the popular Gushers fruit snacks. “We cannot make enough Gushers,” Tiedeman says. “The market has just exploded.”
Along with human safety, food safety is a top priority as more busy families buy easy-to-carry packaged treats in stores and online. Cheerios, for example, is often the first cereal kids nibble as they learn to eat solid food.
“Nothing is more important than keeping our people safe while we make safe food for our families, friends and consumers,” says Robert Waters, QRO manager.
At the General Mills Cedar Rapids plant, 750 highly skilled employees take great pride in producing quality products for consumers.
The workers also routinely give back to the community, from assembling gift baskets for young, disadvantaged patients at Tanager Place Clinic to building beds for kids who don’t have their own through a partnership with the nonprofit Sleep in Heavenly Peace.
General Mills Cedar Rapids is also a major sponsor of the Especially for You Race Against Breast Cancer held each October.
Many employees, including those with multiple generations who have worked at the plant, have worked at the facility for more than 25 years.
“There’s a reason people stay at General Mills for so long and why they encourage their family members to work here as well,” Tiedeman says. “It’s a fun place to work, you can build an entire career here and we have the best employees!”
