An American food redistributing giant has officially opened a new $50 million plant in Ingersoll.
Dot Foods Canada, a subsidiary of Dot Foods, cut the ribbon on the 168,875 square-foot facility located at 100 Ken McKee Street near Highway 401 heading into the weekend. The plant currently employs 70 people, but plans are already in the works for an expansion that would see that number grow to 200 in the next three to five years.
"There is a lot of opportunity for our distribution model in Canada," said Dot Foods CEO Dick Tracy. "We built this facility because we’ve seen incredible growth in our Canadian business in the seven years since we established operations here. We need more physical space and a larger team to keep up with the demand.”
Construction of the Ingersoll plant began last September and was completed in the spring. The first loads of dry products were moved into the warehouse in May and refrigerated and frozen products were stocked in June. An expansion of the freezer section, which began shortly after ground was broken on the plant, is also nearly complete, the company confirmed.
On-site garage facilities and a gate station will also be added to the Ingersoll location within the next two to three years to support Dot Foods' transportation division. The facility was built in such a way that it can easily be expanded to up to 350,000 additional square feet, should customer demand in Canada grow in the future.
The new plant replaces the company's leased facility in Brampton. Employees that had been working in that city were given the option to move to the new location.
As part of its official opening, the company announced it is donating $50,000 to six local non-profit organizations. Both the United Way of Oxford County and the Alzheimer’s Society in London are being given $10,000. The Salvation Army in London and Ingersoll, the Fusion Centre in Ingersoll, and Big Brothers, Big Sisters of Oxford County are getting $7,500 each.
The recipients were selected because they closely align with the company's charitable areas of focus - fighting hunger, addressing food insecurity, and helping those suffering from Alzheimer’s disease.
Dot Foods made a similar $50,000 donation to area charities last fall.
