Good Feelings about Rice Buns

17th July 2014 - by Chris Saizan

As a home-owner in West Sac, I like hearing about new businesses because it means that they see our community as a good investment.

Over the past year, several international businesses have made plans to build here – Japan’s Nippon-Shokken, Norway’s Tomra Sorting Solutions, and Germany’s Bayer Crop Science, to name a few.

Then I heard about the rice buns – NOW I’m excited.

The Port of West Sacramento is not a “container” port, meaning it does not accommodate large container ships. Instead, the deep sea ships that come up the Sacramento Deep Sea Channel into Lake Washington in West Sacramento carry mostly heavy machinery and agriculture.

Of the two, agriculture is the biggest export – and a lot of it is California Rice.  And of the California Rice that ships out, a large portion goes to Japan.

So it makes sense that Shinmei, a Japanese rice miller and distributor,  is setting up shop here in West Sac. The increase of gluten-free products in the U.S. has created a great market for their Rice Bun, a product they plan to source and produce locally for shipment to states further inland.

(Breaking ground in West Sacramento on June 16, 2014)

Shinmei’s investment in West Sacramento means building a $10 million facility and employing 100 full time employees during phase 1, increasing to 500 employees down the road.

Gives a home owner good feelings about the health of our business environment, and the wealth of our community. Warm fuzzy feelings. Thank you, rice buns.

-Cheers!