Leelanau Fruit Company owner Glenn LaCross takes great pride in the business he has guided for nearly 17 years.

A CONVEYOR BELT at Leelanau Fruit Company
separates cherries for processing

LaCross, while giving a tour of the plant located in Suttons Bay Township, said Leelanau Fruit is well equipped to process three major groups of cherry products — canned, which often ends up as pie filling; brined, which with the addition of corn syrup and other ingredients is found in popular cherry ice cream; and black sweet cherries that often end up in yogurts. LaCross estimated that brine cherries, which are also used in cocktails or covered with chocolate as a candy, constitute 15-25 percent of cherries grown in Leelanau County.

Most of Leelanau Fruit Company’s employees work at the Suttons Bay plant, where cherries are processed year-round. Unprocessed cherries with variety names such as Emperfrancis and Napoleon — which have a red blush color — and Gold are stored for up to three years in virtual swimming pools of fruit behind the plant with brine used as a preservative.

On the Friday we visited, most of the machines at Leelanau Fruit were quiet as crews work 10-hour days, four days a week. Still, water is constantly flowing in the plant between the outdoor pools of cherries in storage and equipment that uses moving water for processing. The flow keeps the outside pools of cherries and pipes from freezing.

The impression left a visitor is somewhere between a Willie Wonka Factory and a Great Wolf Lodge for cherries.

The 100,000-square-foot plant, constructed in 1971, was built and owned by Gordon Priest, who died in a tragic auto accident.

Growers took over and operated Leelanau Fruit until 1991, when LaCross purchased it.

The bulky, oversized steel building is broken into work and storage areas that include one massive freezer capable of holding enough barrels of processed cherries to fill freight cars.

One entire wall is hidden behind an oversized stainless steel machine capable of quick-freezing cherries from the time they advance from one side to the other.

Of course, all that refrigerated space comes at a huge cost, with electrical bills hitting $30,000 for summer months, LaCross said.

The rear of the plant is where production hits its stride, as conveyor belts move cherries from one contraption to another, each designed to change their identities closer to delicious outcomes such as fruit filling or sweet condiments for mixed drinks. Pitters pit and slicers slice.

One set of tumblers separates cherries with stems, another set separates cherries from stems and yet a third separate cherries into industry-standard sizes. Quality control experts stand ready to adjust lest candy cherries end up in yogurt.

The entire plant becomes a buzz of activity during harvest as growers pull in with 2-ton trucks full of cherries in preparation for weighing and unloading.

LaCross is clearly proud of the plant, and all that it means to the cherry industry. He points to one quality control measure, a translucent inspection board where cherries are given a final viewing for pits.

“It’s kind of one of our inventions. If that pit is still there, it will show up like a bone,” said LaCross.