LOGAN, Utah — Chants of "mac and cheese" were heard outside the Schreiber Foods factory in Logan on Friday afternoon as the company and location became the home to a new Guinness World Record.

Weighing in at 2,151 kilograms, the factory's mac and cheese dish of 4,742 pounds crushed the record of just under 2,500 pounds set by the Cabot Creamery Cooperative and Chef John Folse & Company in New Orleans, Louisiana, in 2010.

Friday's attempt was part of the plant's 50th anniversary celebration, though there were some bumps along the way. It was delayed by Guinness World Record Judge Brittany Dunn's flight, and Schreiber had to start the attempt over when the plant initially planned to use pre-salted milk.

All ingredients had to go in alone for the record to count.

"This had to be verified and pre-approved for the recipe and the ratios," Dunn said when she announced the record now belongs to the Cache Valley. "We had to see that everything was done in hygienic conditions so that all of you are safe to eat these servings of macaroni and cheese."

Dunn said Guinness also has a no food waste policy, so the hundreds of people who waited in line for more than three hours were an essential part of the record breaking.

The mac and cheese took three hours and 26 minutes to cook, but people started lining up before the attempt began at 1:12 p.m. The record was confirmed at 5:39 p.m.

Chrissie Morrison and her son-in-law Craig Ashcraft came at 2 p.m., thinking it would delay some of the excitement and they would be able to eat immediately upon their arrival. The family waited three hours before they sat down with bacon-topped pasta. They said they attended the event so they could say they were part of a record-breaking event.

"I came in from the Boise area," Morrison said between bites of the creamy dish. "This is pretty close to the best mac and cheese I've ever had."

Morrison's granddaughter, Jenna, said she'd never seen that many people excited for mac and cheese.

Ashcraft said he didn't expect as big of a crowd as the event received, with lines wrapping across the parking lot and going back behind different areas of the building. After his first bites, he said it felt like a sheet of cheese melted onto noodles. A few moments later, he reevaluated.

"It gets better as you go," he said. "It's very creamy and good."

Other participants said the mac and cheese was fantastic, rich and creamy. Delyelah Reyes, a Logan resident, showed up with a pot. She said she wanted to take the mac and cheese home for dinner and the Schreiber Foods employee filled the dish to the brim.

The industrial metal tank started with a few types of shredded cheese before milk was added and the two were mixed. The macaroni was cooked in dozens of pots on small grills lined up on either side of the tank. The noodles were added as they were cooked.

The dish was mixed by several people using scrapers and scoops, as groups of mixers traded off, tired from the 90-degree heat. The dish was then topped with seasoning and additional cheese before it was served to onlookers, who had a variety of toppings they could put on their own Styrofoam-wrapped servings.

The food was transported into trays and served scoop by scoop to people. Bacon, pulled pork, jalapeños, pepper, salt and salsa were among options to add to the pasta.

Plant manager Jay Johnson said hundreds of people helped make the event possible, with many plant workers volunteering to help facilitate the event.

He said earning the record was a recognition of the organization and its decades of work.

"This event recognizes and showcases the hard work of the plant and the community, of what's gone into the history of our operation," he said. "We're one of the largest dairy producers in the country, here in Cache Valley, and so we have a lot of heritage. So, this is a celebration of our past."

HR Team Leader for the Logan plant Derek Carlson said the company has been working at this goal since January, when it had the initial idea for the celebration and record-breaking attempt. Hundreds of hours had been put in before anyone started cooking the food on July 29, he said.

Dave Irish and Shawn Osborne were the official witnesses of the record and will sign off alongside Dunn that the record-breaking was done properly. The two said they were excited to be a part of the event and were glad to see that a major part of the record attempt was giving back to the community through donated food and fun.

"I personally think it's really cool that Schreiber is making it a community event as they celebrate 50 years," he said. "And being a dairy guy, I love the fact that they're doing something dairy-based. Mac and cheese starts with milk and we have a big dairy presence in Cache Valley with producers and Gossner and Schreiber. This is a great way to celebrate the industry."

As Dunn marks another record-breaking event, she said Schreiber staff members were great to communicate with and made sure everything went smoothly. With larger event records, she said she loves seeing the excitement from the community.

"One of the values at Guinness is fun, and another is inclusivity," she said. "So, we celebrate the things in life that may sometimes get passed over. … I also love that record breaking encourages more curiosity and fun, and it captures that childish spirit of excitement."