From left, Kevin Smith, R&D manager, Scott Cowger, vice president and national sales manager, Chad Myers, technical sales and extrusion manager, Jack Waldron, chief operating officer and president, Tim Moore, vice president of operations.

The 93,000-square-foot facility has room for expansion.

Kevin Smith, R&D manager, works with chocolate granola, which could be used in items like bars.

A panning line may be used to mix ingredients like yogurt and chocolate with clusters as well as for sugar-shelling, which is used in the production of jelly beans and other confectionery items.

Chad Myers, technical sales and extrusion manager, explains how slurries are made.

“It’s the hand-to-mouth snack category,” he said. “Trail mix is growing, just like the snack industry as a whole.”

CII, based in Leavenworth, Kan., has opened a facility in St. Joseph to make granola and clusters. Two lines, one for clusters and the other for panning to add ingredients like yogurt and chocolate to clusters, already are in use. The 93,000-square-foot facility has room for six additional lines. CII expects a heat-treatment line for raw agricultural products, including flour and starch, to become operational in the third quarter.

That line will service “really anything that needs some type of log-kill step,” Mr. Cowger said.

CII in its Leavenworth facility makes inclusions and plant protein ingredients, including textured plant protein. CII expects to make oats pieces and rice pieces in the Leavenworth facility that will be incorporated into granola and clusters in the St. Joseph facility.

New product launches already are crowded with pumpkin spice themed snacks.