Greencore to set up sandwich manufacturing plant in US

Ireland-based Greencore Group has unveiled plans to set up a sandwich manufacturing plant in Quonset, Rhode Island, US.

Scheduled to go onstream in spring 2015, the facility will create 370 jobs, and provide the company with £5m in material manufacturing process and distribution savings.

The 100,000ft² site will be built in compliance with hygiene, efficiency and process capability standards, and will allow the company to strengthen its presence in New England markets, while developing future business opportunities closer to New York.

Greencore CEO Patrick Coveney said that the investment will significantly enhance the company’s capability and capacity to serve the sandwich market in the north-eastern region of the US, and will also enable it to drive further growth with current customers.

"Delivering this project will represent an important milestone as we continue to build a strong, growing, profitable food to go business in the USA," Coveney added.

Estimated at £20m, the project cost will be incurred over the next 15 months with non-cash impairment of £8m associated with the closures and around £3m in cash exit and start-up costs.

With this investment in place, Greencore plans to shut down its sites in Newburyport and Brockton, Massachusetts, in phases between April and September 2015.

The closure-affected staff will be given an opportunity to move to the new facility, the company noted.

The latest plans come after the company’s recent acquisition of food-to-go products maker Lettieri’s and a $10m expansion at its Florida facility.

In the UK and US, Greencore has a presence across the food to go, chilled prepared meals, chilled soups and sauces, ambient sauces and pickles, cakes and desserts and Yorkshire puddings segments.