Clif Bar Opens $90M Sustainable Bakery in Idaho

Clif Bar & Company marked the opening of its new 300,000 sq ft, $90 million sustainability-oriented baking facility in Twin Falls, ID with a ribbon cutting ceremony on Tuesday.

The new plant incorporates biophilic design, which aims to connect “people in buildings with nature and the well-being it provides,” the company said in a press release. The design of the bakery includes 200 windows, skylights, indoor plants, interior walls made from recycled barn wood and stone. Its new packaging area, where no windows are present, features images of natural scenes projected onto its walls.

“This is the first bakery – and manufacturing facility of any kind in the nation that I know of – to incorporate biophilic features from the onset,” Bill Browning, a specialist in biophilic design who consulted Clif Bar on the project, said in the company’s release. “We’ve seen biophila designed into offices, hospitals, and schools in the United States, but never as an upfront design strategy in this sector.”

Clif Bar also said it is seeking to obtain a LEED certification from the US Green Building Council for the new facility, and uses hybrid cooling towers that will help the facility use about a third less water than most other bakeries. The facility also has on-demand conveyors, LED lighting, a roof with reflective material, and other features that the company maintains will help reduce its energy consumption by about 20%compared to traditional bakeries.

“It was really important to us that our Twin Falls bakery embodied our company values,” said Clif Bar’s chief executive officer Kevin Cleary at the ribbon cutting, according to the company’s release. “We wanted it to be a healthy, welcoming place for people to work – a workplace that sustains our people, the community, and the planet.”

100% of the energy needs for the new facility will be provided by an Idaho wind farm, the company said.

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