Maple Leaf Foods’ Canada Bread has reached a deal in principle to site a planned $100 million bakery facility, the largest of its kind in Canada, on the south side of Hamilton.
City and company officials have an agreement on a 25-acre property in the North Glanbrook Industrial Park, east of the city’s John Munro International Airport, to house the planned 375,000-square foot facility.
Next come the applications for permits and regulatory approvals, Canada Bread said in a release Wednesday. The company expects to start construction by June this year, and to commission the plant’s first production lines about 12 months later.
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Canada Bread is no stranger to Hamilton, where it already runs plants making fresh baked goods and Olivieri brand pastas and sauces, and employs about 340 people. The new bakery is expected to employ up to 300 people, with room for over 30 more as needed on an hourly, seasonal basis.
“This city is a great location to support our continued growth with a skilled workforce, excellent infrastructure, and ready access to markets,” Canada Bread CEO Richard Lan said in the company’s release. “These benefits collectively led to our decision.”
Canada Bread announced last month that by 2013 it will shut three Toronto-area bakeries “constrained by urban development” by 2013 and move their production to its new facility at a then-unnamed site in southwestern Ontario.
The Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario (FedDev) has now pledged a $2 million repayable contribution for “pre-engineering and design activities” leading up to the new bakery’s construction, Canada Bread said.
It’s expected the new plant, once operating, will qualify for LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification.
Lan said in January that the new bakery is expected to drive “significantly improved efficiencies in our manufacturing and supply chain.”
The Toronto-area sites set for closure have “aging assets that have been further constrained by urban development and cannot support the business’ long-term growth,” the company said.
Operations at those three bakeries are expected to wind down to separate closures in late 2011, early 2012 and early 2013 respectively.
Canada Bread’s current holdings include 27 bakeries in Canada and three in the U.S., where it makes fresh breads such as the Dempster’s and Olafson’s brands and frozen and “par-baked” goods such as the Tenderflake brand.
The company, 89.8 per cent owned by Maple Leaf, also has six British facilities making frozen baked goods for the U.K. and European markets. Canada Bread also makes Olivieri pastas and sauces at Hamilton and at Delta, B.C.
