Irish prepared foods maker Greencore Group said it plans to build a new sandwich factory in Rhode Island as its US expansion continues.
The London-listed company is building the new £20 million (€23.8 million) premises at the Quonset Business Park in Rhode Island.
Around 370 people will be employed at the 9,000 square-metre factory, the company said.
Greencore boss Patrick Coveney said the project marked an “important milestone” in the firms’s effort to expand in the US.
“This investment will significantly enhance our capability and capacity to serve the sandwich market in the North Eastern region of the US, and will also enable us to drive further growth with current customers,” he said.
Greencore supplies convenience stores, grocery stores and small shops with ready-made meals, desserts and other foods. It says it makes 430 million sandwiches per year.
The company says the new factory will better enable it to serve existing markets in New England, as well as develop opportunities in New York. The factory is scheduled to open in spring 2015
It also will close facilities in Newbury and Brockton, Massachusetts, which employ around 700 people, although a company spokesman told the Boston Globe it will offer new jobs in Rhode Island to the Massachusetts workers. Spokesman Michael Evans did not respond when asked by the newspaper in an email whether there would be a net loss in jobs.
© 2014 - European Supermarket Magazine by Enda Dowling
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