Plymouth-based Masters Gallery Foods Inc. plans to build a new $30 million packaging and distribution facility in Oostburg, potentially adding hundreds of jobs in the coming years.
“We’re thrilled to be embarking on our second production facility. It’s a proud moment for the company and all our associates, and we hope it’s exciting for the local community as well,” said Jeff Gentine, chief executive officer and co-owner of Masters Gallery Foods.
The expansion will accommodate growth in the company’s private brand retail and food service cheese offerings and will support the company’s original plant and corporate headquarters. Gentine said the new facility will perform the same types of functions – shredding, slicing, chunking and sticking natural cheese – as the current production facility.
“We explored building out of state, but after a thorough analysis we determined that expanding in our backyard was best,” Gentine said. “Maintaining our company culture is paramount, and the workforce in Wisconsin, particularly in Sheboygan County, is second to none, especially when it comes to the dairy business. We can’t replicate that anywhere else.”
The first phase calls for a 150,000-square-foot facility on a 40-acre lot to the north of the Oostburg Business Park. The initial investment of $30 million is expected to result in 120 new jobs over the next two or three years. Masters Gallery plans to break ground next spring and take occupancy by early 2018.
The plans call for two potential additions in the future that would bring the facility to 350,000 square feet. The full buildout could generate another 200 jobs or more.
Masters Gallery Foods has nearly 600 employees statewide. Its main production and distribution facility started as a 40,000-square-foot building and has been expanded three times to reach 310,000 square feet. The company also has a warehouse in Plymouth and Cedar Grove.
Gentine said the growth has been driven by its private label business at the retail level along with a general increase in cheese consumption.
“We’ve got to be able to keep pace with our customer’s growth,” he said.
He added that there is also potential for an increase in global demand for cheese products, although not at the same pace as in the U.S.
“We can’t really participate in any of that unless we add capacity,” he said.
