Triple Sticks Foods is a frozen food manufacturing company based in Belleville, Illinois. The company focuses on providing co-packing, private-label food service throughout the U.S. It primarily makes sandwiches and other hand-held items. The majority of its products are produced in its refrigerated production facility, then stored and shipped frozen.

The Challenge

Triple Sticks' business was growing. One particular need was to increase its sandwich-making capacity as a result of COVID-19 school closures. With very little notice, the company was tasked with providing sandwiches for lunches that local families could pick up as their children attended school remotely.

Triple Sticks turned to Grote Company for help in increasing the speed of the sandwich-making process. Once the call from Triple Sticks came in, Grote Company quickly shipped a 613 Multi-Slicer with the capacity to slice enough deli meat and cheese to make hundreds of sandwiches per day. 

As Triple Sticks already owned one of these machines, their team was aware of its flexibility and superior performance in bulk slicing, stacking and shingling these products, as well as other products the company produces.

The Results

The machine arrived two days after Triple Sticks made the call. Once it was set up, Triple Sticks was able to fulfill even more school lunch orders for children in their community during an unprecedented time of need. 

The Grote 613 Multi-Slicer played a key role in the company’s sandwich production by accurately and consistently slicing up to 180 slices of deli meat and cheese per minute. The machine continues to factor into the production demands of Triple Sticks' expanding customer base. 

“The 613 Multi-Slicer is a great piece of equipment, and I am extremely satisfied with the ease of use, flexibility and reliability,” said Joe Trover, CEO of Triple Sticks Foods. “For an application needing 150 slices a minute on 4.5-inch applications, they are perfect.  And if you need 300, a second machine works perfectly.” 

The machine's modular design makes moving it around the Triple Sticks facility easy, so it can be placed in whatever position is needed to increase productivity. Designed with sloped surfaces and removable parts, it’s also easy to clean.

“We’re able to use the 613 for slicing logs of meat as well as slicing logs of cheese,” Trover said. “In both applications, the 613 fits the bill - they are easy to move, with a small footprint and are easy to clean units, which is perfect for what we do.”

The Grote Company slicers have helped Triple Sticks produce millions of sandwiches to date. 

“Since our first use of our 613, we have produced over 60 million sandwiches using one of the three machines,” said Trover. “Currently, each unit helps us produce over 30,000 units a day. We are extremely happy with the products we have purchased as well as the service provided by Grote.”

Since then, Triple Sticks has installed two more 613 Multi-Slicers to help handle their workload.

“We have purchased three 613 slicers in the last four years, and they have been fantastic,” said Trover. “They are very portable, easy to clean and do exactly what we need when we need them. I am extremely happy with the product and look forward to growing and needing more in the future.”