Our Favorite Holiday Recipes
HOLIDAY RECIPES FROM OUR FOOD AND BEVERAGE TEAM—AND HOW AUSTIN BUILDS THE FACILITIES BEHIND THE FESTIVITIES
Season’s greetings from The Austin Company! As families gather and ovens hum, we asked a few leaders from our Food and Beverage team to share their favorite holiday bakes and braises. Alongside each recipe, you’ll see how our integrated design-build approach—and decades of food processing experience—help manufacturers create the safe, reliable facilities that make every season delicious.
Featuring: Sean Barr, VP and Market Leader for Food & Beverage; Anton Rozich, Director of Project Planning; and Melinda Marks, Director of Project Planning.
SEAN’S FAVORITE | SANTA’S 20-HOUR POT ROAST
Instructions:
- Bedtime prep: Place roast in your slow cooker pot. Pour beef broth around the roast, sprinkle with ranch, brown gravy, and au jus mixes (reserve 1 packet of ranch for morning). Top with the stick of butter. Set to Low.
- Morning flip: Turn the roast, add carrots if using, and sprinkle the remaining ranch seasoning.
- Low and slow: Continue cooking 5–8 hours until tender.
- Serve and enjoy: Spoon pan juices over slices for a rich, holiday‑worthy finish.
WHY IT WORKS (in facilities, too): Low-and-slow is a principle we apply to thermal processes and production flow—engineering for consistency and food safety. Our layouts prioritize hygiene zoning and cleanability to support compliance with applicable regulatory standards.
ANTON’S FAVORITE | ELF’S MINI PUMPKIN MUFFINS WITH CEREAL FROSTING
Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray mini muffin pans with nonstick spray.
- Combine sugars, baking powder, salt, and spices.
- Add pumpkin and oil; mix well. Beat in egg and vanilla.
- Add flour; mix until incorporated.
- Scoop into pan, evenly dividing the batter.
- Bake 11–12 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean or with a few crumbs.
- Cool in pan 10 minutes, then remove.
- Frosting: Beat cream cheese, softened butter, and vanilla until light and creamy. Gradually beat in confectioners’ sugar until smooth.
- Finish: Frost muffins and top with crushed cereal. Enjoy!
FROM MIXER TO MARKET: We help bakeries and snack plants integrate batching, allergen control, packaging, and end‑of‑line automation—optimizing throughput while safeguarding product integrity.
MELINDA’S FAVORITE | MELINDA’S GRINCH COOKIES
Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 375°F.
- Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
- Beat butter, sugars, vanilla, and green food coloring until creamy.
- Add eggs one at a time, beating well.
- Gradually beat in flour mixture.
- Mix in pudding powder.
- Stir in chocolate chips.
- Drop by rounded tablespoon onto parchment-lined baking sheets.
- Bake 12–15 minutes or until edges are golden. Cool and enjoy!
GREEN LIGHTS IN REGULATORY DESIGN: Whether you’re baking cookies or producing ready-to-eat proteins, sanitation zones, airflow, and material or personnel flows must be engineered for compliance. Austin’s facilities are planned to align with food safety standards, minimizing cross-contamination risk.
How Our Design-Build Expertise Makes Holiday Food Possible—At Scale
The Austin Company’s integrated team—covering architecture, structural, MEP, process, packaging, and construction—delivers comprehensive design-build solutions for food and beverage manufacturers across baking and snack, confectionery, beverages, frozen foods, and meat and poultry. Our experience spans FDA and USDA-regulated facilities, including ready-to-eat, raw, ready-to-cook, and high-care environments.
We design for hygiene zoning, CIP/COP systems, and critical utilities such as steam, refrigeration, and process glycol. Automation is embedded throughout—from ingredient handling to robotic palletizing—ensuring plants operate safely, efficiently, and flexibly during peak seasonal demand.
The Austin Method®. Our end-to-end approach includes site selection and incentive negotiation, preconstruction, design and engineering, construction, and start-up—streamlining delivery and reducing risk.
A Taste of Our Work. We’ve supported high-volume protein processing projects and USDA Ready-to-Eat facilities, integrating automation and packaging systems to improve throughput, maintain quality, and enhance worker safety.
Let’s Build Something Delicious Together. Planning a new line, expansion, or greenfield facility? Austin’s Food and Beverage team can help you evaluate feasibility, define scope, and design-build for speed, safety, and compliance.
Contact us to talk ovens, mixers, and manufacturing excellence—no matter the season.