The $32m investment will increase capacity to 183,000 square feet - up from 136,000 square feet - and add some 50 new jobs, bringing the headcount up to 177 by 2015.
Bridor USA Inc. is a subsidiary of Bridor Inc. based in Canada - a company specialized in bringing European baked goods and artisan techniques to the North American market for 30 years. Its Vineland site is its only US plant - manufacturing and distributing goods nationwide.
“This expansion represents our deep commitment to our US customers and significantly enhances what we can offer them,” Jean-Francois Duquesne, CEO of Bridor, told BakeryandSnacks.com.
A new European twist
The Vineland plant would continue to produce Bridor’s line of baguettes, breads and rolls but see an additional pastry line added that manufactured a variety of croissants and Viennese pastries.
“We are expanding in order to provide our current and future customers with the European-style artisan pastries manufactured and sold in the US with locally-produced ingredients. We look forward to providing clients with enhanced customer service as well,” Duquesne said.
“The additional space will be used strictly for our pastry production, and to accommodate proprietary industrial pastry manufacturing technology. Pastries travel almost two miles on a conveyor. This may seem long, but for the pastry connoisseurs it means long resting time for the dough to generate optimal product flavor and in parallel, to minimize the stress on the dough and enhance its flakiness which is a key product attribute in laminated dough pastries,” he added.
Duquesne said that while the US was a key market for Bridor and expansion across the country was their aim, there were currently no specific plans for further development.