Knauss Foods Selects Contractor and Starts Construction on New Plant in Virginia

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Researched by Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources, Incorporated; Houston, Texas). Privately held Knauss Foods Incorporated (Quakertown, Pennsylvania) has selected a contractor and started pre-construction activity on a new snack foods plant in Henry County, Virginia.

To support future growth in the U.S., the company plans to build a new $5.7 million, 88,000 square foot plant in the Patriot Centre industrial area of Collinsville, Virginia, located about 38 miles south of Roanoke.

Knauss has selected Eskridge Long & Associates (Marion, South Carolina) as the general contractor and the company is currently on-site performing grading and site preparation work for the extensive underground plumbing and building infrastructure. If the weather permits, the contractor hopes to have the groundwork completed by February and plans to pour the building foundation in March or April.

The plant is scheduled to become operational by August of 2003 and create about 105 area jobs.

Henry County donated the 15-acre site in the Patriot Centre to the company and will contribute $140,000 for site preparation. Knauss Snack Food Company will also be eligible for enterprise zone incentives, which include real estate and machinery and tools tax rebates over the first five years of the project.

The plants multiple production and packaging lines will produce meat snack products like beef sticks and beef jerky.

Knauss Foods began back in 1902 as a small meat market operation in Quakertown. In 1969 the company expanded into dried beef products and acquired L Foulke & Son, Andrews Dried Beef Company and Carson Packing Company. Today the company manufactures a wide variety of beef sticks, beef jerky, hot sausage and pickled meat products.