Page 12 - World Trade Center Delaware - 2019

FROM SHAKE’ N BAKE TO FRESH-CUT FRUIT
Delaware expands its footprint as a center for food processing
While Delaware is well known for its agricultural production, with vast fields of commodity crops such as soybeans and corn, it is also a major center for food processing. Chief among these food companies is Kraft Heinz, which operates a long- established processing plant on the west side of Dover.
“The facility was built in 1962, and Kraft Heinz has been manufacturing in the plant since 1964,” says Lynne Galia, head of corporate affairs for the food giant. “We make Jell-O, Stove Top Stuffing Mix, Shake’ N Bake, Baker’s Coconut,
Country Time Lemonade, Crystal Light and Kool-Aid powdered drink mixes.”
While Kraft Heinz is the largest processing company in the state, other firms have added processing, cold storage and distribution facilities, some in conjunction with activities at the Port of Wilmington.
One of the largest of these, Del Monte Fresh Produce, announced two years ago that it would invest $22 million
to convert the former AstroPower Building in Pencader Industrial Park in New Castle County into a fresh food processing and distribution facility. According to plans, the revamped, state-of-the-art facility when finished will have
an extensive equipment infrastructure for the cutting and production of fresh fruit, vegetables and other food products, including packaged fresh-cut fruit and protein salads, in addition to adding banana and avocado ripening rooms. State grants are helping finance the project.
And earlier this year, Delaware put out the sign that
it is a “pet-friendly environment.” California-based JustFoodsforDogs announced it has solicited construction bids for a New Castle facility which will employ 30 people to man a “human-grade commissary” which, when
operational, will produce 35,000 to 40,000 pounds of fresh, highly nutritious dog food per day for kitchens, pantries, and stores-in-stores along the East Coast.
As the Port of Wilmington, already North America’s largest entry point for imported bananas and fresh fruits with
the cold facilities to store them, continues to grow as the destination for imported perishable goods, the opportunities for Delaware to expand the state’s food-processing industry – the last stop before supermarkets – are limitless.
Kraft Heinz has expanded its business operations in the First State in recent years:
• In 2008, the company was awarded a $1.3 million strategic fund grant from the state to upgrade the plant.
• In 2011, when the facility was still Kraft, it moved its Kool-Aid line to Dover from manufacturing facilities
in Mexico and was awarded a $456,000 grant from the Delaware Economic Development Office (DEDO) from its strategic fund for purchasing new manufacturing and packaging equipment to support the powdered drink production. The expansion created about 40 new jobs
at the Dover plant.
• In 2016, Kraft and Heinz merged to create Kraft Heinz, with joint headquarters in Chicago and Pittsburgh.
• At the time of the merger, Kraft Heinz closed its nearby Federalsburg, Maryland, facility and announced it would create 28 new jobs in Dover. To support the expansion, the Delaware Council on Development Finance agreed to provide two grants totaling nearly $1.2 million. One was awarded to Kraft Heinz based on the creation of new jobs, and the second for upgrades to the plant’s bakery division.
• This September, Kraft Heinz continued to show its good- neighbor status by awarding the Food Bank of Delaware a $20,000 grant to help fight hunger and improve nutrition among children in Delaware.
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