On the Move

Acadiana supplement maker Saber Foods keeps growing

by Patrick Flanagan

Saber Foods is in the business of growing bodies, and the demand for the local manufacturer's line of protein supplements is on the rise.

Business has been good for Greg Simek's Saber Foods, so good in fact that the company - a manufacturer of fitness industry supplements like protein powders - has outgrown its existing 5,000-square-foot warehouse in Carencro.

Greg Simek

"I remember four years ago when we first opened up, I used to think there's no way we could ever fill up all this space," Simek says of the Carencro facility where his company first set up shop manufacturing the Trutein line of protein supplements. "It was probably last year sometime that we realized we were running out of space."

A relocation is under way, and by October Simek says he expects to be up and running at Saber's new headquarters, a 20,000-square-foot factory on Moss Street, which once housed a roller skating rink and CA Guitars.

"We definitely need more room and the extra storage space," says Simek. "We make our protein powders in 5 pound and 2.5 pound containers, so they're bulky, and it all just takes up a tremendous amount of space."

Simek says once the move is complete, the company's workforce will also be expanding.

"We have six employees now, and plan on hiring three more once we're in the new warehouse," he says. "Once we're in, well be purchasing new production equipment, which will require additional laborers as well. So probably in a year's time, we're hoping to have at least doubled our employees."

In addition to the relocation, which should be wrapped up by October, Simek says the company is feeling the deadline crunch to get ready for the upcoming Olympia Fitness & Performance Expo - one of the supplement industry's biggest trade shows slated for the end of September in Las Vegas.

"This is a big trade show for the fitness industry, so we've been scrambling to get ready and have some new products, or at least have some demo models ready to show by the end of the month," explains Simek. "Right now we're focused on proteins, but we do have an amino acid we're working on, a vegan protein and an all natural egg white protein coming out."

Simek's Trutein protein powders are marketed to athletes/body-builders as a better tasting way to promote increased energy utilization and faster post-workout muscle recovery.