McCain Foods Expands NB Facility

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FLORENCEVILLE-BRISTOL, N.B. — McCain Foods (Canada) has made a major investment in its Florenceville-Bristol French fry plant, which will expand capacity and create 40 to 50 new jobs.

The company is adding a new production line to meet growing demands for hash-brown patties and similar potato products. The $65-million investment will include a 32,000-sq.-ft. expansion to the existing fry plant, as well as state-of-the-art manufacturing equipment and technology.

Jeffery DeLapp, regional president, North America for McCain, says the new line will allow the company to better meet the needs of its retail and foodservice customers in Canada, the U.S. and other export markets. “Hash browns and other specialty products are the fastest-growing segment of the potato market,” he says. “This investment will help us continue to grow our North American and export businesses and, just as importantly, allow us to support our customers’ growth targets as well.”

The expansion will stimulate economic growth in the area and will have a significant impact on New Brunswick potato growers. “We are probably going to need an additional 4,000 acres of potatoes or more to feed the new production line,” says Dale McCarthy, VP of Integrated Supply Chain, North America. “We will obviously buy all that we can locally, but we may have to even reach across borders to meet our needs.”

This is the biggest single investment McCain has made in any Canadian facility since 2008, when it opened the new French fry facility in Florenceville-Bristol to replace the first plant ever built by the company in 1957.

Construction will begin immediately and the company expects the new line to begin production in late 2017 or early 2018.

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