U.S. Food & Beverage Plant Expansions Add Up to Billions in Spending

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Written by Eric Funderburk for IIR News Intelligence (Sugar Land, Texas)

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Summary

Plant expansion projects in the U.S. Food & Beverage Industry represent more than $30 billion in current and planned spending.

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A Big Construction Segment

Industrial Info Resources data find more than 1,000 current and future U.S. Food & Beverage plant expansion projects on the books, valued at more than $30 billion. While not all of these expansions will move forward as planned, the scope of these projects, covering everything from meatpacking to pet foods to ready-to-eat meals, shows the importance of expansion construction projects in the U.S. sector. Around $7.3 billion of these expansions are currently underway throughout the U.S.

Current Construction

Current Food & Beverage expansion projects cover a range of foods and services from desalination to dairy. The segment leading Food & Beverage expansions in the U.S. is the broad Packaged & Prepared Foods segment, which is under way with more than $1.6 billion of current expansions. Industrial Info Resources coverage of this segment includes pet foods, which is bringing one of the largest expansion projects: Barrett Petfood Innovations' 280,000-square-foot addition at its plant in Little Falls, Minnesota. Barrett is primarily a co-packer, manufacturing various recipes for different labels. In addition to dog and cat foods, Barrett also caters to niche sectors like reptiles and zoo animals.

After Barrett's building construction, which is expected to be completed early next year, the company will commence on building a new production line. Readers can access details of the projects, including construction timelines, key contact details, and equipment and service needs, by clicking here. Other upgrades are on the books for the Little Falls plant, including a potential wastewater treatment addition.

Another copacker is putting funds into expanding an existing 1.5 million-square-foot plant in Rochester, New York, in order to turn it into a "super plant" through new production lines, technology upgrades and automated club-size packaging. LiDestri primarily is known for its pasta sauces and also produces dips and salsas for private labels. The latest expansion is giving special focus to cream-based sauces like queso and alfredo. Construction is expected to be completed this fall, when production will begin ramping up.

Generally carrying large price tags, a desalination plant expansion is one of the largest plant expansions presently underway in the U.S. Food & Beverage Industry. Tampa Bay Water in Florida is increasing the capacity of its 1 billion-gallon-per-day plant by constructing a new reverse osmosis unit to process another 65 million gallons per day. Work is expected to continue through next year, wrapping up toward the end of 2027 or in early 2028.

Industrial Info Resources data find 30 current U.S. dairy expansion projects underway, and more than 120 in various stages of planning and engineering, making the dairy segment an important player in U.S. Food & Beverage expansion construction. The largest current expansion projects in the dairy segment include doubling the size of Upstate Niagara Cooperative Incorporated's plant in New York and an expansion of Bel Brands' dairy in Brookings, South Carolina, that will grow cheese production by 10,000 tons per year. Bel is the maker of the popular Laughing Cow and Babybel cheese products.

Future U.S. Food & Beverage Expansion Projects

Future planned expansions also cover a range of sectors, and once again, one of the largest projects on the books is for the expansion of a desalination plant in Port Aransas, Texas, although construction may be a few years out.

Expected to kick off this year is Mead Johnson Nutrition's addition of nearly 620,000 square feet of new building space, including a new six-story building weighing in at more than half a million square feet.

Also this year, The Coca-Cola Company intends to ride the growing sales of its Fairlife high-protein, reduced-sugar milk products by expanding its dairy in Coopersville, Michigan. Showing the brand's anticipated growth, earlier this year Fairlife wrapped up construction of a grassroot 745,000-square-foot dairy in Webster, New York, which had been under construction for more than two years.

Key Takeaways

• Expansion projects at U.S. Food & Beverage plants accounts for more than $30 billion in current and planned construction.
• Large desalination projects are a prominent player, although these are few and far between. Other strong showings come from the Packaged & Prepared Foods segment as well as dairies.

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About Industrial Info Resources
Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, Industrial Info Resources is tracking over 250,000 current and future projects worth $30.2 trillion (USD).