Oh Soy! International Company Solbar Has U.S. Headquarters in Oakdale

Within a nondescript business park off of Hadley Avenue sits a company that specializes in a food product you likely eat without knowing it.

Oakdale is home to the U.S. headquarters of Solbar—a publicly traded seller of soy-derived products.

Food manufacturers rely heavily on soy-derived products from Solbar and companies like it to improve the texture of certain foods and provide added nutritional benefits.  

The company produces soy protein and soy isoflavons for nutrition bars as well as other highly recognized soy-based foods, like protein powder and soy milk. Yet, one of the most significant customer bases for Solbar comes from food producers that share an aisle with brands like Tyson. The meat industry relies on Solbar's soy proteins to give it a more tender, juicy flavor.

"What it offers to a food manufacturer is that the product itself is colorless, it's pretty much odorless and flavorless, so they add it and it really acts as a supplement to the meat that you're using," said Dayton Daberkow, North American sales and marketing manager for Solbar. "It's water-binding, so it's going to hold on to both water and fat in a meat application. So, your end product is going to have more of a tender, juicy flavor instead of your meat just drying out and losing all of its moisture, it's going to help it hang onto it."

Daberkow said Solbar is unique from its competitors in that it buys the raw material, processing it from the soybean all the way down to the finished good, soy protein isolate.

The process to obtain soy protein isolate involves removing other elements such as oil, carbohydrates and water from the bean until all that's left is the protein.

The process takes place in Solbar's manufacturing facilities in South Sioux City, NE, in the U.S., Ashdod, Isreal, and in Ningbo, China.

Solbar moved its U.S. headquarters to Oakdale from Chicago just last year. The decision to move to Oakdale, Daberkow said, was based on the strong food presence in Minnesota, with companies like General Mills based in the area, as well as the proximity to South Sioux City. He said Oakdale is also close to Solbar's former manufacturing plant in Turtle Creek, WI.

Dakerbow said the community is serving the company well.

"Oakdale makes sense because it's a smaller community," he said. "We've really enjoyed being in town here."

The U.S. headquarters currently employs five people including Daberkow and the company's CFO. The location contains a small warehouse where samples and product inventory is kept.

Solbar was founded as Hayes Ashdod, Ltd. in 1961 by Daniel Chajuss. The company has been in the U.S. since 1995 and has been publicly traded since 2004.

According to soy-based food industry experts, the market for soy-based foods is currently shrinking. Data reported by Mintel Market Research indicates the soy-based food and beverage market decreased by 16 percent from 2008-2010 and is expected to see a 17 percent drop in the market from now until 2012.

Daberkow said Solbar is actually experiencing growth and that he doesn't believe the predicted trend will have an impact on company finances given that much of its product serves the meat industry, which continues to have a high need for soy protein isolate.