Value Added Products (VAP) rises for 20 years in Alva
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January 22, 2020
Yvonne Miller
Left: VAP's staff shown at the 20th Annual Stockholder's Meeting consist of (from left, front row): Plant Operations Manager Tonja Lewis, CEO Geoff Clark, Quality Assurance Manager Neha Thunga; (back) Warehouse Manager Rudy Smith-Dunn, Human Resources Manager Eric Emerson, Research & Development Manager Daniel Hinde, Admin Assistant Jennifer Dooley, Admin Assistant Sharon Doctor. Right: VAP CEO Geoff Clark talks to stockholders at their 20th annual meeting about how he and staff are working to turn a profit for the cooperative owned by area farmers/ranchers, businessmen and landowners.
Known for producing mouthwatering pizza crusts, buttery, flaky croissants and more delicious-as-grandma-made dough products,Value Added Products (VAP) held their 20th Annual Stockholders Meeting Saturday in Alva. An estimated 40 investors attended the meeting in a conference room at the Northwest Technology Center.
In the late 1990s a group of innovative businessmen, farmers/ranchers and others in the Alva area came together and VAP was born. Investors were mainly wheat-farmers and ranchers who invested their money in this value-added industry to provide jobs for the local economy; get a tax break on their investment; with hopes of someday seeing a return on their venture. Area farmers and landowners invested in the cooperative as a way to add value to their hard, red winter wheat, the predominant crop in this area.
Yvonne Miller
The VAP Board of Directors present at the 20th Annual Stockholder's Meeting Saturday at the Northwest Technology Center in Alva are (from left) Dean Goll, Gordon Karber, Steve Sterling and Bob Baker.
VAP shipped its first load of product May 1, 2000, according to the original CEO Mike Dunker who served in that capacity until June of 2010. Then Dirk Merle became CEO until October of 2018. The current CEO is Geoff Clark who began his role February 19, 2018.
Through VAP'S 20 years of existence in Alva the frozen dough manufacturer has employed hundreds of people and generated well-over a million dollars into the local economy with taxes, wages, etc.
Clark said that VAP currently employs over 60 people with a $1.9 million dollar annual payroll.
Looking back on VAP's annual meeting stories in the Alva Review Courier/Newsgram, VAP has had years of great business and times where the yeast failed to rise to the occasion.
Clark told investors Saturday, "It took us 20 years to get here. It takes a little time to ground the ship, to fix some leaks, but we're still floating."
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