Request Foods Production Facility Expansion

US-based frozen foods co-packer Request Foods completed construction of a new plant in Greenly Street in Holland, Michigan, in May 2011. Construction of the 225,000ft² facility was started in June 2010.

It is an expansion to the north of the company’s existing plant and headquarters at 3460 John F. Donnelly Drive.

The $35.2m private investment is aimed at increasing the production capacity of frozen food entrées in order to capture the new business opportunities with major customers.

It will also create about 250 new jobs in the next five years, of which about 150 will be added in the first three years of operation.

Request Foods produces about 400 varieties of custom frozen meals and entrées, including lasagna, soups, sauces, desserts, appetisers and side dishes.

It has customers across the US, including club stores, restaurant chains, retail groceries, food manufacturing, foodservice and hospitality industries. Besides co-packing private label brands, the company also produces frozen meals under the brand name Zerilli’s and OverBrook Farms.

Site of Request Foods’ new plant

The new facility is located on 128th Avenue in the agricultural processing renaissance zone (APRZ) land in Holland Charter Township.

Request Foods leased the 24-acre site for 15 years in May 2010. The company owns and operates a co-packing facility adjacent to the site.

The APRZ site will allow the company to operate the plant freely without a need to pay state or local taxes over the next 12 years. Request Foods will pay 25% of the taxes on the new building from the 13th year. It will pay 50% in the 14th and 75% in the 15th year and 100% taxes thereafter.

Design of Request Foods’ Michigan plant

The new building is a two-storey structure of precast concrete. It has one production floor, a freezer, maintenance area, office and exercise room. All the production facilities will be compliant with the norms of US Department of Agriculture (USDA).

Contractors involved in the project

Dan Vos Construction Company (DVCC) was the architect and builder of the new plant. The company had also built the existing co-packing facility for Request Foods in 1989.

Classic Engineering was the structural engineer and HVAC services provided for the new plant. Pleune Service Company was the HVAC contractor; Godwin Plumbing provided the plumbing services.

Polarity Electric designed and built the electrical installations and information technology infrastructure. Soils & Structures was the geotechnical consultant for the expansion project.

Other contractors and suppliers included East Muskegon Roofing Fence Consultants, Steel Systems and Burgess Concrete Construction.

Request Foods co-packing facility

The existing co-packing plant is a 350,000ft² processing and headquarters of Request Foods. It has ten production lines and a workforce of 520 employees.

It was established in 100,000ft² in 2001 and expanded to the current size with a kitchen, processing equipment and production areas in 2003.

Processing equipment at the plant

Request Foods procures all the ingredients required for its plants from producers and businesses based in Michigan.

The production plant has several state-of-the-art pieces of processing equipment for optimum quality at every production stage. It includes fully computerised ovens, steamers, mixers, seven spiral freezers and blenders. These are designed to and consistently retain the taste of the ingredients.

The simmered food items are carefully prepared using high quality ingredients. After cooling, they are quick frozen in the spiral freezer. When heated, the ingredients accumulate for the first time and give a fresh taste. The formulations of the products are monitored to adhere to the customer specifications.

Projects and expansion

The expansion programme also includes construction of a new company-owned wastewater pre-treatment plant. The filling in water on ten-acres of the plant site will be reduced by creating 20-acres of wetlands. The Holland Township also built a new influent pipeline with about $600,000. It also waived off a $100,000 utility tap-in fees for the project.