• Belshaw and Adamatic combine to form Belshaw Adamatic Bakery Group
• 120,000 sq.ft HQ for Belshaw Adamatic Bakery Group
• Century donut system upgrade with new 10 and 14 ft long fryers
• New Sugar Tumbler for commissaries
• Thomas E. Belshaw, Former President and Owner
• Monster Garage "Donut Cop Car" on patrol again (archive)

Belshaw and Adamatic form Belshaw Adamatic Bakery Group

Belshaw and Adamatic have combined to form Belshaw Adamatic Bakery Group. The merged company is located in the new factory HQ in Auburn, Washington.

Adamatic was founded in the early 1960's and earned a reputation for making the best industrial roll dividers and roll makeup lines in North America - which Adamatic continues to do in the new factory.

The Belshaw Adamatic Bakery Group brand in the US, Canada and Mexico will incude former Adamatic Rack, Deck and Convection ovens, Proofers and the Omega Touch cookie depositor, as well as Belshaw donut equipment . See Belshaw Adamatic Bakery Group product listing

120,000 sq.ft HQ for Belshaw Adamatic Bakery Group

Belshaw has completed the move into a new 120,000 sq.ft. production facility in Auburn, WA, 20 miles south of Seattle. The custom-built plant is 40% larger than the former Seattle plant. This will provide greater capacity and increased efficiencies, thereby allowing better lead times for our valued customers. Roger Faw, President of Belshaw Bros., stated that "Belshaw has a long storied history in the baking industry, most of which lies in our previous facility where the Belshaw family started the business, but the time has come for us to spread our wings and grow as we strive to retain our prominence in the global sales environment we serve."

Belshaw's new address is 814 44th Street NW, Suite 103, Auburn, WA 98001. The company's phone numbers, 206-322-5474 / 800-578-2547, are unchanged.

Click any of the thumbnails below for images of the opening and of the new plant.

Century upgrades with new 10 ft and 14 ft fryers

Belshaw continues to upgrade its Century Donut Production system designed to fill the needs of commissary and wholesale donut producers.

The new C14-24 is the longest fryer in the Century product line with a frying length of 14 feet (4.25m) and width of 24" (60cm) to accommodate 6 donuts per flight. This fryer, which produces approximately 620 dozen donuts/hour, was designed to provide extra frying capacity while still using a 24" proofer and glazing, cooling and screen loading line.

The C10-36 is the other new fryer in the Century system. (10 feet long x 36" wide). This fryer's capacity is 560 doz/hr and it uses a 36" auxiliary line.

Just about every component of Century's glazing, cooling and screen loading sections has now been completely redesigned with industrial-strength belting, wash-down motors, heavy-duty axles+bearings, variable speed controllers, and numerous features designed to facilitate production.

All Century auxiliary systems are modular and can be configured with 45°, 90° and 180° turns as well as straight-line, with glazers, cooling conveyors and screen loaders available.

More about Belshaw 'Century' donut system

Former President and Owner Thomas E. Belshaw

Thomas E. Belshaw, former president and owner of Belshaw Brothers, Inc., passed away peacefully at the age of 88 on July 31, 2008 with his family by his side.  He lived a long and productive life operating a successful business, and mentoring and inspiring others.  He was a brilliant and caring man who loved his work and appreciated the people he worked with.

Tom was born in Everett, Wash., on March 24, 1920 to Thomas A. and Bessie Belshaw.  They moved to Seattle a few years later, settling in Rainier Valley.  Tom married Yvonne DeWitt in 1941 and moved to West Seattle where they lived for 67 years.

In the 1950s, Tom took over the management of Belshaw, the family business founded by his father and uncle, Thomas A. and Walter R. Belshaw.  He applied his engineering and business knowledge to inventing and manufacturing bakery and restaurant equipment, receiving many patents for the designs of their products.  During that time the company grew dramatically, offering new automated equipment and expanding sales into international markets. He pioneered equipment sales in Europe, Australia and Asia; in 1967 he received the Presidential "E" Award for excellence in Export, for progressive and successful sales policies.  In 1959, Belshaw was the subject of the KING-TV program "Success Story," which featured inside views of Northwest companies.

Tom Belshaw was the owner, principal design engineer, and architect of the company's development for over 30 years, during the most significant period of growth in Belshaw's history.

Indeed, Tom Belshaw laid the foundations for almost all of the company's operations today. Under his leadership Belshaw expanded from manufacturing cake donut depositors, to making large and small fryers, proofers, and other accessory equipment for donut production. The company also began selling in large quantities overseas, beginning with Europe, Australia and Japan, and entered another crucial phase in its development with production of large scale donut fryers and proofers for wholesale bakeries. He held degrees in both engineering and business, and brought his extensive knowledge into the factory wherever he went, together with a determination to earn the satisfaction and approval of every customer. Belshaw owes a great part of its success to Tom Belshaw.

Tom was devoted to the baking industry where he contributed his leadership and organization skills.  He was elected President of the Bakery Equipment Manufactures Association (BEMA) in 1970, and continued to serve on the Board for many years, twice serving as chairman of the International Baking Industry Exposition (IBIE).  He retired from the company in 1992. In 2006, Tom received the Lifetime Achievement Award from BEMA.  In 2007, he was honored by being inducted into the American Society of Baking Hall of Fame. Tom is survived by his wife Yvonne (who was Belshaw's marketing director for many years), two children, three grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren.

The employees and friends of Belshaw Brothers, Inc offer their condolences to Yvonne Belshaw and the Belshaw family, and thank them for permission to reproduce portions of his obituary here.

For pictures of Tom Belshaw, click on the thumbnails below.

New Sugar Tumbler for commissaries

Do you sugar-coat a large number of donuts each day? If you are dipping and rolling them in sugar manually, Belshaw's sugaring tumbler is made for you. It has an oversized chute so you can pour in an entire tray or screen at a time, without worrying about spills. Then the tumbler gives the donuts an even coating before gently feeding them out the other end.

If you would like to speed up your sugaring process, talk to your Belshaw Industrial Sales Manager about the Sugaring Tumbler!

Sugar Tumber spec sheet (200kb, pdf)