This year, Burke Corporation in Nevada, Iowa, is celebrating 50 years as one of the leading manufacturers of customized crumbles and meatballs in the pizza industry. In 1973, Bill Burke, Sr., had a vision that has evolved into one of the premier economic development success stories of the region.
The company started with three employees and 3,000 square feet in a Quonset hut in Ames and now has over 500,000 square feet and more than the 550 team members in Nevada. In 2020, Burke opened its $150 million expansion, which extended its existing facility in Nevada.
As a growing company with a national sales base, Burke has always been on the front end of logistics technology in the manufacturing space. The company’s latest technological decision was the adoption of electric shag trucks, used locally to move trailers quickly and safely for loading and unloading goods.
“When we made the decision to purchase our first electric truck, there were several grants and rebates making the cost to go this route similar to diesel,” said Brandon Koehler, Vice President of Operations for Burke. Koehler also cites electric as a cleaner alternative as a factor in their initial decision to explore this option. “Our traditional diesel shag trucks spend a lot of time idling and burning diesel when not actually working, especially during the cold winter months and hot summer months,” he said. “The electric option eliminates that waste.
It’s a shift in thinking for an industry that continues to rely on traditional fuel sources. Through a grant, Burke acquired its first Orange EV truck in 2020 and was able to install the needed infrastructure to support electric vehicles. In 2023, the company purchased a second truck, but this time without any grant support. The cost of the second truck was nearly double the cost of a diesel truck for the same purpose.
“We had such a great experience with the first truck, and we were able to see cost savings in other ways. So getting that second truck, even though it cost more, was the right decision for us,” Koehler said.
The Orange EV trucks require little maintenance, and when they do, due to remote diagnostics, repairs can be pinpointed quickly. Additionally, Burke already had the infrastructure to charge the vehicles, which was another cost savings.
Koehler started his career in the food industry as a dry sausage production supervisor for Hormel Foods in 2007. He progressed through various supervisory positions at the Austin, Minnesota, plant, and in 2022, Koehler joined the Burke team in his current position, overseeing plant production at the Nevada facility. He relocated his family to Ames and is actively part of the business community in the region.
Koehler grew up in a diesel truck-driving family, making the move to an electric vehicle noteworthy. “We did the research and now we have the experience to suggest this decision to other manufacturing companies,” he said. Several companies in the region have approached the Burke team to gain insights about this move to electric.
Burke produces over 1,200 different meat and non-meat crumbles that are used across the United States and all over the world. The company ships nearly 100 truckloads of product every week out of Nevada, and Burke products can be found in over 10 countries in both foodservice and retail outlets. Burke currently has 1,248 active SKUs. As it relates to the new electric vehicles, these trucks handle over 200 million pounds of supplies and finished goods annually. Typically, there are 85 or more trailers on site at any given time.