July 30, 2021

A company specializing in grain processing solutions is ready for growth following the acquisition of an operation in Idaho that specializes in serving the flour industry.

Scherer Inc., which is located in the Tea industrial park, acquired the mill roll/flaker roll/flour roll division of Idaho-based SoulCraft LLC, bringing an additional business line to the Sioux Falls-area company.

Scherer was founded more than 27 years ago by Bob Scherer as a business reconditioning mill rolls. It has grown from a couple of employees to about 75.

The move allows Scherer to expand its product offerings and draw on its similar expertise, said president and CEO Jason Schiebout, who became a partner in 2011.

“A mutual supplier put us in contact,” he said. “They had heard (SoulCraft) was trying to sell its division and knew we wanted to expand – through our strategic planning process we had identified it – and we took it from there.”

The acquisition allows Scherer to serve a different market, he said.

“They do a lot of flour rolls and big mills where the final product is flour for human consumption,” he said. “That’s something we’ve wanted to get into here as well.”

The hope is to triple the current output, he said.

“There’s a big growth potential just because there’s such a need for that business to stay open in that area. These rolls don’t transport well, so there’s enough work in that area to support the business and a lot of the rolls in that area are heading to the Midwest to get sharpened or to California.”

Scherer’s locally based operation serves the feed, oilseed and forage processing industry. Over the next few months, the plan is to add services and capacities to the existing facilities to make them national leaders, Schiebout said.

“The majority of flour in the U.S. is made by two or three big companies, and those are customers of ours out there,” he said. “So it’s easy to visit with a mill in Minnesota and say, ‘We’re taking care of your mill in Oregon,’ so we’re already a supplier, and it’s just doing it with a different location. We’ll take those customer relationships and move them to the Midwest.”