Gray, a fully integrated A&E firm, was on hand to celebrate the grand opening of Clemens Food Group’s new smoked pork operation in Hatfield, Pennsylvania. This marks the second successful project collaboration for the two companies, which recently opened Clemens’ first greenfield operation in Coldwater, Michigan, occupying 650,000-sq.-ft. The Hatfield facility was fast-tracked to completion in 15 months in spite of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Clemens Food Group is a sixth-generation, family-owned pork business, which got its start in Hatfield, Pa. more than 125 years ago and is just 20-30 miles from Philadelphia—and a 20-minute drive from my house. Once known as just Hatfield Packing to the locals—or “Hatfield” at the grocery store, Hatfield brand products over the years have been the pork products of choice unless you had a farm and processed your own pork. Indeed, having a pork producer in your “back yard” very much felt like family, and Hatfield brand products were always associated with the pride that comes with locally produced food.