Each day is said to be an adventure, and for a Harding student, occasionally those adventures unfold in a blueberry or chocolate–scented landscape.
Schulze and Burch Biscuit Company, located around a mile south of Harding’s campus, specializes in producing baked goods for brands like Kellogg’s and Quaker, as well as generic brands for Kroger and Wal-Mart. The factory’s close proximity to Harding means anyone in the area is subject to the occasional sensory surprise.
One of the most notable products Schulze and Burch produces is Pop-Tarts — a Kellogg breakfast toaster pastry filled with a variety of flavors. Jessica Pratt, head of Human Resources at Schulze and Burch’s Searcy location, said they make strawberry, brown sugar cinnamon, blueberry, wildberry and peanut butter Pop-Tarts, to name a few.
“Now, sometimes you might smell cranberries or bananas,” Pratt said. “That’s coming from our B line, which produces hard granola bars.”
Schulze and Burch run three lines of production over the course of two shifts, which means the ovens are running from 4 a.m. until 11 p.m. Consequently, Harding students could catch a whiff of an array of pastries baking at almost any hour from the minute dorm doors open until curfew.
Thousands of products are baked at Schulze and Burch each day, but their production schedule is entirely dependent on the demand of their clients. Clients like Kellogg’s and Quaker take inventory and order more Pop-Tarts and granola bars as needed. The Searcy factory then whips up baked goods that are eventually shipped to stores nation-wide.
Pratt said that although it is impossible to predict what flavor of toaster pastries Schulze and Burch will be producing from week to week, it may be possible to track what days good smells will be heading towards campus.
“It’s all about the wind,” Pratt said. “If it’s blowing in the right direction, campus is going to catch some of whatever we’re making that day. It is kind of exciting because people recognize that the place where I work is the source of all these good smells.”
Weekend desk clerk for the Heritage Inn and clinical mental health counsel major Scott Lacy worked at Schulze and Burch during the fall of 2014. Lacy remembers the production floor being filled with the smell of whatever flavor of toaster pastry was baking during that particular shift. However, Lacy said a full day’s worth of the smell made it all a little less enchanting.
“After 10 hours of either smelling or stepping on Pop-Tarts, they start to lose their appeal,” Lacy said. “I would still get positive comments all the time about how the factory would flood Searcy with the smell of blueberries or chocolate.”
So on those whimsical days when the wind is blowing north, students become the recipients of a serendipitous perk of living in Searcy, and Harding University becomes the recipient of thousands of dollars worth of atmospheric aroma marketing — and we have Pop-Tarts consumers nation-wide to thank.
