Grinding might look like a small step in food manufacturing, but for Rome Grinding Solutions it’s the heartbeat of the line. A grinder touches product quality, yield, sanitation, uptime, and worker safety — all at a time when processors are being asked to run more SKUs, at higher volumes, with the same (or smaller) footprint and tighter budgets.
As a fourth-generation, U.S.-based, family-owned company, Rome has grown by staying intensely focused on grinders and on the people who run them: operators on the floor, maintenance teams, and plant leaders juggling cost, safety, and capacity. CEO Kate Rome has spent nearly three decades inside the business, carrying forward a culture of long-lasting equipment, long-lasting relationships, and a willingness to “break it and rebuild it better” when the market changes.
In this Q&A, Kate talks about the pressure to run more with less, where manufacturers still underestimate total lifecycle cost, why standardization and cross-training are so critical to resilience, and how grinder innovation and operator training are evolving together. She also shares how being a woman leader in a historically male-dominated space has shaped her approach to culture, creativity, and customer trust.
Q. What shifts in production or customer expectations are having the biggest impact on your business right now?
Kate Rome: We’re really seeing two big shifts.
First, our customers are being asked to run more volume and more SKUs with the same footprint and without spending a lot of extra capital. They’re used to having more flexibility, so figuring out how to push capacity and variety through the same space is a big challenge.
Second, food safety never takes a backseat. That expectation is always there. So we’re constantly asking: how do we design equipment that’s easily interchangeable and safe, where you can control foreign material, reclaim product, and support all of that at the same time?
Those two things — more volume/variety and uncompromising food safety — are the biggest factors we’re seeing right now. And depending on the customer, they’re influenced by labor shortages, regulations, and shifting customer demands all at once.
Q. Many people think about grinders in terms of horsepower and throughput. What do manufacturers still misunderstand about equipment investment, especially around lifecycle cost and operational impact?
KR: I think it’s the true system-level view that gets missed — the cost per pound over the full life of the equipment.
The real money often shows up in:
- Unplanned downtime
- Lack of spare parts
- Trying to grind too many products with a “universal” grinder that isn’t really set up for that
The idea of “cheap” equipment usually doesn’t take any of those things into account. It’s easy to look at the purchase price and ignore total cost of ownership and operational impact.
Where I see leaders underestimate long-term consequences is, frankly, dollars and cents. Everyone is under pressure not to spend money and to cut wherever possible. But some of those cuts miss the bigger picture and end up costing more in the long run.
Q. When manufacturers are evaluating grinder systems today, what separates a forward-thinking equipment strategy from reactive, band-aid fixes?
KR: Reactive, band-aid fixes usually show up when a company knows they should have updated equipment years ago, but the budget isn’t there. So they grab a used piece of equipment “just to get by,” maybe from an auction house.
I had someone say to me once, “It’s a grinder. You just plug it in and it grinds, right?” And I said, “Yep… but no.” That mentality is still out there.
Forward-thinking customers are looking beyond the catalog. They’re asking:
- What upcoming products are we planning?
- Where is our growth going to come from?
- How can we configure our equipment and accessories to support that future?
They focus on options that optimize the grinders they already have instead of assuming they’ll just add another grinder every time something changes. That’s a very different mindset from “we’ll plug in whatever we can find and hope for the best.”
Q. How do parts availability, sanitation design, and maintenance support factor into smart grinder decisions?
KR: Sometimes customers assume that if they buy a piece of equipment, the manufacturer will always have every part in stock, ready to overnight, so they don’t need to keep anything on their own shelves.
In a lot of cases, we do carry deep inventory at Rome. But there are still a lot of parts and pieces that make up a grinder. I understand wanting to control how many dollars you have sitting on your shelf, but you also have to think ahead: What’s the cost if this line is down? What happens if I can’t get this part in 24 hours?
Downtime, downtime, downtime — that’s the broken record.
Sanitation design and maintenance access play into that too. If you can’t clean or service the machine quickly and safely, you’re losing time and increasing risk. Those factors should be part of the investment conversation, not an afterthought.
Q. Rome has grown by being highly specialized and very service-oriented. What leadership principles guide how you continue to build the company and support customers?
KR: I probably get more credit than I deserve, because a lot of this started long before me. For me, it’s pretty simple: We’ve always wanted to build long-lasting relationships and long-lasting equipment — and those two things go together. They create trust.
We’ve been very intentional about that from the beginning, for about 45 years now. Being transparent and curious, having ongoing conversations with our customers — those are key.
We’re also not naïve about how rare fourth-generation, U.S.-based, family-owned businesses are. I feel like the one thing we’ve consistently done right is focus on quality.
When we’re developing new products, our unofficial saying is: “If you wouldn’t want your family name on it, don’t put mine on it.”
That gives everyone skin in the game. Our employees take that really seriously, and it’s created a sense of ownership that keeps quality high and supports those long-term relationships.
Q. How have these philosophies evolved as the industry has shifted across four generations?
KR: One thing people might not realize is how fast you have to be able to pivot now.
Something isn’t working right? There’s a pandemic? A key customer changes direction? You have to pivot quickly and be transparent with your team: “We’re going to try this and see what happens. Hopefully the plants don’t shut down. Hopefully we keep selling grinders and we all still have jobs.”
We joke about it now, being a few years removed from COVID, but it wasn’t funny at the time — and there was no playbook. There was no, “Hey, family, what did we do during the last pandemic?”
So the philosophy has evolved into a mix of resilience, transparency, and creativity: being honest about what we’re trying, and willing to change course when the world changes on us.
Q. You’re leading in a part of manufacturing where women have historically been underrepresented. How has being a woman in industrial food equipment shaped your approach to leadership?
KR: I’ll give a little caveat: it is getting better. We’re more represented now — slowly — but it’s still a very male-dominated space.
For me, I’ve always had to be accountable for the business, the people, and the customers. Being in the minority has shaped things a bit, but it still comes back to the basics: hard work, consistency, clarity, ability to pivot and be creative, and listening to your team. Those are basic leadership skills. You don’t always see them as they’re forming — you notice them when you look back.
I’ve often felt like I needed to be more prepared and follow through more because I was underrepresented. But the principles are universal: set clear expectations, take care of your people, keep listening to your customers, and let honesty drive performance.
Q. Has your perspective shifted how Rome thinks about culture, innovation, or customer engagement?
KR: Yes, 100%. My leadership style is very different from my dad’s or my grandfather’s.
I’ve been doing this a long time — almost 28 years — and when I took the reins, my focus was: “We’re really good at manufacturing grinders. What’s next?”
I’ve been much more forward-thinking than the two generations before me in terms of pushing creativity. I’ve tried to instill that in the fourth generation too — trusting people, trying things, being willing to fail, and then trying something new.
It’s hard, but it’s fun. I like change. I like evolving.
I love when someone says, “If only we could…” and I say, “Okay, let’s do that. Let’s try it. If it doesn’t work, we’ll try something else.”
It’s a bit of a twist on “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” My take is: let’s break it and rebuild it better.
Q. When you see dozens of operations up close, what separates manufacturers who navigate disruption well from those who get stuck?
KR: The ones who move forward quickly are usually the ones who have standardized parts, pieces, and equipment. Everything is interchangeable.
They also spend the time and money to cross-train employees. We all know turnover is an issue in every business, and food production adds another layer because you have to keep employees safe around the equipment.
The customers who stay on top of standardization and cross-training — relentlessly, not just when it’s convenient — are the ones who reduce the impact of those random disruptions. The ones who “shoot from the hip” tend to struggle more.
Q. What are you noticing about operators who do a good job of protecting institutional knowledge from walking out the door?
KR: I’m not sure anyone has completely cracked that code yet, but you do see some patterns.
The people who hold a lot of institutional knowledge — the ones who really understand the equipment and the process — are often the ones you’re promoting and giving new challenges to.
Especially with the next generation, you see that they want progression, new titles, and new responsibilities. If you want to keep them and keep that knowledge in-house, you have to move them up, keep them motivated, and give them opportunities to contribute at a higher level.
Q. Does resilience come more from mindset or from infrastructure — or is it really a combination?
KR: It’s a little sprinkle of both ingredients. You need the infrastructure — standardized equipment, parts, training, safety — and you need the mindset — creativity, willingness to pivot, honesty about what’s working and what isn’t.
Q. Grinder technology has been around for a long time, but innovation never stops. What developments in equipment or support are you most excited about right now?
KR: On the equipment side, we’re combining a pre-breaking and grinding application into a single-footprint machine, pushing colder, tempered temperatures and faster performance. Everybody wants colder, bigger, faster.
We’re debuting a new piece of equipment at IPPE that we’re really excited about called the Colossus. The name fits — it’s very large, and for grinder nerds like us, it’s very exciting.
On the support side, we’re doing a big push around grinder training: hands-on sessions, 3D printed parts, and classroom-style settings.
We focus on employee safety and optimizing the grind. It’s really fun because we’re connecting with operators regularly — quarterly or semi-annually — and we learn a lot from them about how to make our equipment better and what pain points they’re seeing.
Q. Which of those innovations — equipment or training — do you think will deliver the fastest ROI for processors?
KR: The training.
There’s a long process and a lot of red tape involved in purchasing something like the Colossus. That kind of investment takes time.
Training, on the other hand, has a more immediate impact. You see the benefits in safety, performance, and uptime much faster.
Q. Looking ahead, where do you see the next big opportunity for food manufacturers in equipment performance and operational excellence?
KR: I think it’s connecting increased capacity with cutting waste, while also making food and employees safer.
Practically, we’re seeing a drive for simple, practical adjustments to technology: clear value, rugged automation, and getting useful data without making things too complicated.
We joke about “Grinders for Dummies 101.” That’s the idea: straightforward production, clear expectations, safety margins.
Right now, we’re seeing more interest in simplicity with a proactive mindset — making things easier to run, easier to understand, and safer, instead of layering on complexity for its own sake.
Q. If a plant executive asked where to focus next year’s investment, what would you encourage them to think about first?
KR: I’m always going to lean toward employee safety. As a manufacturer myself, that’s my focus. Nothing is more important than making sure your plant floor is safe and our production floor is safe.
In an era where there aren’t a lot of big capital-equipment budgets, safety-focused investments are also a smart way to optimize the grind. Many grinder accessories and upgrades are based around:
- Worker safety
- Reducing manual effort
- Allowing quick adjustments on the fly without full shutdowns
- Faster, safer cleaning
Those kinds of upgrades improve safety and performance at the same time. For me, that’s always going to be the priority.
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