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Rain doesn't dampen LaBudde Group open house

By Mike Christopherson, Managing Editor
Crookston Daily Times

June 24, 2005 - The rain and wind may have cut into the attendance some, but everyone who was invited and showed up Thursday evening to the LaBudde Group Warehouse's open house featuring food, music, beer and wine tasting had a good time.

If the LaBudde name sounds sort of familiar, it's probably because the company has since 1997 stored sugar beet pulp in the former Red River Valley Shows building. In 1998, it purchased the old Simplot potato warehouse on the south edge of town, and the renovated and expanded warehouse served as the location for Thursday's event.

Richard Erickson, director of strategic planning for LaBudde, said that the company deals with by-products of the food business, and beet pulp, which is what's left after the sugar is extracted, is one of its main commodities. LaBudde handles bagged shredded beet pulp for American Crystal's by-products marketing arm, Midwest Agri-Commodities in San Rafel, Calif. LaBudde rents other spaces during peak seasons, Erickson explained, and also provides storage space for several other companies.

Events like Thursday's have been held before at LaBudde, he said, as a way to show appreciation for the company's employees and the people the company works with.

The main offices for the LaBudde Group are located in Grafton, Wisc. The company also owns warehouses in Jackson, Wisc. and Akron, Mich. The company rents space in 28 other locations across the nation, Erickson said. In 2004, the company did business in 49 states, he added, all except Rhode Island.

The company also buys and sells products from several foreign countries, including Brazil, Argentina, Great Britian, Canada, Mexico, China and South Korea.

"Our Crookston warehouse routinely loads containers for such destinations as Japan and Thailand," Erickson said.

For more information, visit www.labudde.com