DOT Foods considers expansion

January 18, 2002

DOT Foods considers expansion

By JULIE E. GREENE

WILLIAMSPORT - Food distributor DOT Foods Inc. may undertake a $5 million expansion to double the size of its dry facility in 2003, General Manager James Canella said Thursday.

"We're expecting to continue to grow," Canella said.

The dry facility, which is 60,000 square feet now, is "jam-packed," Canella said. Company officials are considering adding 60,000 square feet to permit further growth.

"We need additional warehouse space to increase our product offering," Canella said.

The expansion was originally planned for 2004, but could be moved up with business doing so well, Canella said. If approved, the expansion would be contiguous to the current center at 16301 Elliott Parkway in the Interstate 70/81 Industrial Park.

DOT Foods is planning for an anticipated 9 percent growth companywide, he said.

Canella couldn't say how many more jobs a dry facility expansion could create, other than that employment would increase incrementally as business warranted it.

DOT Foods employs about 250 people and could have 260 employees by the end of the year if the company experiences anticipated business growth, he said.

The distributor expanded its freezer section by 53,000 square feet in July 1999, Canella said. The entire center is 160,000 square feet.

The DOT Foods center distributes manufactured food products in the Northeast corridor, from Maine to North Carolina and as far west as Ohio, Canella said.

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