Maple Leaf Foods finalizes tempeh production plant purchase

Maple Leaf Foods and its wholly owned subsidiary, Greenleaf Foods, have completed the acquisition of a 118,000-square-foot processing plant located in Indianapolis, Indiana.

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Maple Leaf Foods will acquire a food processing plant to expand plant protein production capacity. The company's headquarters is shown here. (Maple Leaf Foods)
Maple Leaf Foods will acquire a food processing plant to expand plant protein production capacity. The company's headquarters is shown here. (Maple Leaf Foods)

Maple Leaf Foods and its wholly owned subsidiary, Greenleaf Foods, have completed the acquisition of a 118,000-square-foot processing plant located in Indianapolis, Indiana

The company plans to retrofit the facility by installing tempeh production equipment with the initial capacity of approximately 4.5 million kilograms to support growing demand for the company’s Lightlife tempeh products. 

The facility purchase was initially scheduled for completion in April 2021. Production is targeted to begin in the first half of 2022. The plant will employ approximately 115 people.

The “takeoff phase” for plant-based proteins

Maple Leaf Foods has invested heavily in plant-based proteins, saying that the segment is now in the “takeoff phase.” 

The Canadian company, which was previously known as a meat and poultry company, entered the segment in 2017 with the acquisition of Lightlife Foods and Field Roast Grain Meat Co. Subsidiary Greenleaf Foods launched a year later to support the Field Roast and Lightlife brands.

New facility replaces previously planned plant

The Indianapolis plant acquisition will replace a planned plant protein facility in nearby Shelbyville, Indiana. Construction on that facility was scheduled to start in the late spring of 2019, with production expected in the fourth quarter of 2020. Development of that project has been delayed due to a number of factors including the COVID-19 global pandemic.

“If you look at the capacity we have today available, all those plants that we have available will serve our capacity needs beyond 2022, so that gives us today a little more time to continue thinking about what Shelbyville needs to represent,” Maple Leaf Foods Chief Financial Officer Geert Verellen said during a February 25, 2021 quarterly earnings call. “We did some site preparation work (in Shelbyville), but no construction has started. But we keep that option open at this point.”

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