The Very Good Food Company opened a new 45,000-sq.-ft. plant-based meat facility in Vancouver, B.C., which can process 37 million pounds of product a year.

Cereal Ingredients Inc. plans to build a new 80,000-sq.-ft. manufacturing facility in St. Joseph, Mo. The $24 million facility is expected to open first quarter of 2022 with nearly 50 employees.

The Martin Bauer Group, a global manufacturer and provider of quality tea and botanicals, has announced the installation of a bottling line in its facility in Bethlehem, Pa. The system matches the one in operation at the recently acquired Power Brands, a beverage innovation company based in Los Angeles, thus providing dual coast coverage for their customers.

Freshly Inc., provider of fresh prepared meals in the U.S., signed a lease for its second assembly and distribution facility in East Greenwich, N.J. The 234,000-sq.-ft. facility will be Freshly’s largest distribution center, equipped to assemble and ship 1.6 million meals per week at peak capacity, and is scheduled to be operational by February 2022. The company will continue to operate its Linden, N.J. facility, which employs 70 people.

Great Lakes Cheese will build a new 280,000-sq.-ft. packaging and distribution center, valued at $185 million, in Abilene, Texas. The company will be filling 500 new jobs into 2022.

Coastal Growers began construction on an $87 million peanut shelling and storage facility in Atmore, Ala. Announced in 2020, the 400,000-sq.-ft. project is expected to be finished by mid-2022.

The Kroger Co. is launching what it says is the country’s first customer fulfillment center (CFC), combining vertical integration, machine learning and robotics with affordable, friendly and fast delivery service for fresh food. Located in Monroe, Ohio, and powered by Ocado Group, the 375,000-sq.-ft. CFC supports the grocer’s thriving digital business.

Ti Cold Development is building a new 254,330-sq.-ft. cold storage facility in Reno, Nev., with 40,000 pallet positions, and a 41,000-square-foot refrigerated dock.

T. Marzetti Company plans to expand its existing facility in Columbus, Ohio, by investing nearly $30 million, creating 20 jobs. The 17,000-sq.-ft. expansion will accommodate three new packaging lines, and hiring begins later this year.

Ren Seafoods plans to open a processing and distribution facility in Mobile, Ala. Part of a $12 million growth project, the facility is expected to create 50-plus jobs.

Casey’s General Stores plans a new $62 million distribution center in Joplin, Mo., which will serve 400-600 of its convenience stores in the Midwest. 

Anheuser-Busch has selected St. Louis for its EverGrain U.S. production operations. The $100 million investment will produce healthful barley ingredients. See FE, “Creating healthful products from spent brewers’ barley,” Jan. 7, 2021.

Ben E. Keith Foods opened its new 275,000-sq.-ft. distribution center in Albuquerque, N.M.; the facility construction had begun in November 2019. 

Ninth Avenue Foods will invest approximately $103 million to locate a 260,000-sq.-ft. dairy and plant-based beverage processing facility in Columbus, Ind. The facility should open in March 2022.

Woodford Reserve Distillery is expanding its production capacity by adding new stills and a building to house a new boiler facility in Versailles, Ky.

Herbruck’s Poultry Ranch, a Michigan-based, fourth-generation egg producer, is beginning construction on Blue Springs Egg Farm in Mercersburg, Pa. The new sustainable cage-free egg-laying facility will result in more than $100 million in economic investment for the region and create nearly 200 jobs. The first phase of construction on the 335-acre site will include four barns, an egg processing plant and hen litter pelletizing/storage building. Herbruck’s expects to complete construction and begin processing eggs in 2022.

Parallel, a multi-state cannabis producer will build a $25 million cannabis growing/processing/manufacturing operation in San Marcos, Texas.