Lakeside Foods expanding frozen packaging facility

Construction is underway at Lakeside Foods in Manitowoc, Wis., to expand its frozen packaging facility, the company announced in a press release. Lakeside Foods is a supplier of high-quality frozen and canned foods to the retail, food service and industrial sectors.

Footings and foundations have been poured for the 100,000-square-foot addition, which will include 10 new automated packaging lines capable of a variety of bag options, including stand-up and bag-in-bag, reconfigured workflow to meet the highest food safety industry standards, robotics palletizer with modern frozen storage racking system, and five additional shipping docks, according to the company. Production in the new space is scheduled to begin next September.

The $40-million project is part of a strategic growth plan that began with acquisitions earlier this year to broaden and diversify the company’s product portfolio, the company said. The updates are designed to meet the custom packaging needs of customers and increase capacity to enable product innovation in the frozen foods category.

“The existing facility packages more than 100 million pounds of canned and frozen vegetables per year for more than 100 private label customers and operates seven days a week to keep up with current demand,” said Joe Yanda, senior vice president of operations for Lakeside Foods, in a statement. “The expanded space and upgraded equipment will allow us to increase frozen food offerings and leverage new business opportunities.”