Sugar Creek Packing to upgrade food facility in US

US food company Sugar Creek Packing Co. plans to invest $28.5m to expand and upgrade a 77,000ft² plant in Cambridge City, Indiana, that was previously owned by organic food firm Really Cool Foods.

The renovation project will include the addition of refrigeration space, installation of new equipment and refurbishment of the plant.

It will also see the addition of five cooking lines – two cooking lines are expected to be installed by 2013, and one cooking line will be added each year until 2016.

The plant is expected to be operational by late 2013 and will create 400 new jobs.

Sugar Creek noted that although the complete product range for the facility has not been finalised, it will focus on ready-to-eat products.

The facility, located in Indiana Gateway Industrial Park, Wayne County, was earlier owned by Really Cool Foods, which closed its operations in November 2011 after it was unable to sell the business, leading to a loss of 130 jobs.

Sugar Creek acquired the facility for $13m in a US Bankruptcy Court sale in August 2012.

Meanwhile, the Indiana Economic Development Corporation, the state’s job-creation agency, has offered Sugar Creek nearly $2,850,000 in conditional tax credits and up to $175,000 in training grants based on job creation targets, while Wayne County is planning to offer additional incentives.

Sugar Creek, based in Washington Court House, Ohio, operates five facilities in Ohio and Kansas, and offers raw and fully cooked products including pork and turkey bacon, meatballs, bacon bits, pizza toppings and chicken products, for domestic and international customers.