Kangaroo Brands, Inc., a Milwaukee-based manufacturer of specialty breads and frozen handheld sandwiches, recently finished an expansion that will create 50 new jobs over the next 12 months in the Milwaukee area.

Kangaroo completed construction this month on a second sandwich room to house a third and fourth production line for its Sandwich Bros. of Wisconsin line of frozen sandwiches. The refrigerated room increases Kangaroo's capacity by 25 percent and will house sandwich assembly and packaging, including robotics, conveying, slicing, wrapping and packaging equipment. The room is expected to be fully staffed and operational by the first week of September.

Currently, Kangaroo employs around 100 full-time employees and 70 contract employees. The expansion will create more than 25 jobs every six months, a total of around 50 jobs over the next year, until a fourth production line is added in mid-2016.

The majority of new jobs will include sandwich assembly and packaging, as well as sanitation, equipment technicians, line leads and administrative roles.

Kangaroo recently switched to a just-in-time inventory schedule to make room for the additional production line. Kangaroo works primarily with local, Wisconsin vendors to reduce ship time as well as carbon footprint.

Kangaroo introduced the Sandwich Bros. of Wisconsin line of handheld frozen sandwiches in 2012. The sandwiches are hand-stuffed and made with top-quality ingredients, including Kangaroo pita bread. They come in an assortment of breakfast and lunch flavors including Egg & Cheese, Sausage & Cheese, Turkey Sausage & Cheese, Chicken Melt, Angus Cheese Burger, Gyro Slider and Southwest Veggie Burger.