Finding the Sweet Spot in Food Plant Location Decisions
December 8, 2020
Who doesn’t like cookies? The food industry usually avoids NIMBY objections. The facilities smell nice, they are not too big, and they often have a company store open to the public! This article is focused on food plants in the $20 million to $80 million range, perhaps 40,000 square feet to 120,000 square feet. In future articles we can discuss finding and retrofitting existing buildings and the site selections of more challenging operations like animal slaughter.
A Strong Sector
New food plant construction has continued in 2020. And as the year progresses, owners are also restarting projects that were delayed due to the uncertainties from COVID-19. The sector continues very strong during the pandemic. Producers for retail, as expected, are overjoyed that people are re-learning to cook at home: Their sales are booming. Suppliers for food service also are not suffering, and many by now have made investments to retool for retail products.