Mike Nemeth

Review of Initiative Foods

Great Sanger company. On the rise. And the reason ...

Great Sanger company. On the rise. And the reason I say that happens to be related to a fire the company had in 2016 that should have done it in. The plant where Initiative's organic baby food was processed burned to the ground. The historic site had been extensively remodeled, but it was old and that apparently contributed to the disaster. The operation, owned and operated by the Ypma family, employed about 120 at the time of the fire. James Ypma, president, has forged ahead with the rebuild and is currently restarting local production in Sanger on one line of product. This has been one of my favorite stories to write, and I've been writing for a newspaper since 1982. Just a great operation.