SunOpta expanding Allentown plant

SunOpta, a food and beverage company focusing on plant- and fruit-based products, recently announced it is expanding its Allentown facility.

“I’m pleased to announce the further expansion of our plant-based foods and beverages production capacity,” Joe Ennen, SunOpta CEO, said. “This project, in our Allentown, Pennsylvania plant, follows the completion of three large projects in the fourth quarter of 2020 to accelerate the growth of our plant-based business. We expect this new capacity to come online in the fourth quarter of 2021. We remain pleased with our sales pipeline efforts to deliver $100 million of revenue growth by the end of 2022 from the three 2020 projects. This additional capacity will ensure that we are well-positioned to support our customers’ growth in 2022 and beyond.”

SunOpta specializes in the sourcing, processing, and production of organic, natural, and non-GMO plant- and fruit-based food and beverage products.

The company also closed its Santa Maria, Calif., frozen fruit processing plant on Monday.

“This closure will reduce the cost basis in our frozen fruit business while leaving ongoing relationships with growers intact and ensuring adequate capacity to service demand for years to come,” Ennen said.

Both the closure and the Allentown expansion are part of the company’s multi-year supply chain optimization strategy.