Berner Food & Beverage holds ribbon-cutting ceremony for expanded facility

On Sept. 20, Dakota, Ill.-based Berner Food & Beverage hosted a ribbon-cutting event, marking the official opening of a newly expanded facility that triples Berner’s manufacturing space, offers customers additional beverage production capabilities, and allows for continued growth in the future.

“We have not only tripled our manufacturing footprint with this expanded facility, we have increased our most important asset, our employees,” said Berner CEO Kurt Seagrist at the event. “We have been able to grow from 355 employees, adding over 200 jobs in our local area, and we’re still continuing to encourage job creation in our area. Berner is a great place to work, and we continue to look for additional talent within our community, so that we can all grow together.”

The original footprint of the facility has grown in size from 92,000 square feet of manufacturing space to more than 285,000 square feet, and warehousing space has increased to 170,000 square feet. New and improved quality standards have been implemented and service support teams expanded so that Berner “exceeds customer expectations,” the company stated in a press release. Updated equipment has also been added to existing lines, which Berner said allows it to use the latest retort technology and manufacturing equipment to deliver “even better-tasting beverages, dips and sauces” to the private brand industry.

“Berner’s vision of growth is not stopping with this ribbon cutting,” Seagrist said during the ceremony. “We strategically built in room for continual growth in another production line, beyond the all-new beverage line, with additional capacity for expansion. The beverage category is booming, and we are now in a position to support our customer partners’ needs today as well as their future growth, as we strive to become the leading supplier serving the food and beverage industry and expand our portfolio in the growing RTD coffee market.”