Posted by Heidi Schwartz
Creative Food Ingredients, a Canadian-owned manufacturer of cookies, cookie parts, and cookie crumbs, will construct a 75,000 square foot addition to its facility in Perry, NY, which will open up the production to larger output and lower costs. The company, whose largest customer is Hershey, will add 56 employees to its 130 person workforce.
“Manufacturing companies like Creative Food Ingredients are part of the backbone of the Upstate economy, and supporting their efforts to expand means creating jobs and new opportunities for New Yorkers throughout the region,” NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo said. “I am proud that the State is helping this business expand both its facility and its workforce, and I look forward to seeing it thrive long into the future.”
Creative Food Ingredients CEO Michael O’Flaherty said, “We are extremely pleased to have received the recognition and support from various levels of government. We are approaching 20 years of manufacturing in Perry and we are excited about the prospect of bringing additional employment opportunities to the local community and area.”
The Mississauga, ON-headquartered company is growing rapidly and its ownership was looking to make further investments at the Perry site, which is Creative Food Ingredients’ only manufacturing facility and is currently 125,000 square feet. Empire State Development (ESD), the state’s economic development agency, met with company ownership which was motivated to make these investments but was also very much bottom line driven and needed assistance to make the numbers work. Incentives from both Wyoming County and ESD were required to ensure the project would occur in Perry.
The company will invest $2.8 million in this project. New York State, through ESD, will provide up to $500,000 in performance-based Excelsior Jobs Program tax credits in return for Creative Food Ingredients’ job creation commitments. The Wyoming County IDA will provide an estimated $533,599 in incentives that include a PILOT along with mortgage and sales tax exemptions.
Empire State Development President, CEO & Commissioner Kenneth Adams said, “Creative Food Ingredients’ expansion is great news for Wyoming County as it will better position the manufacturer to meet the needs of its customers, while creating new jobs and opportunities in the region.”
Wyoming County IDA Executive Director James Pierce said, “The economic development partnership of the IDA and ESD worked together to deliver an attractive incentive package that convinced Creative Food Ingredients to move forward with this project in Perry and Wyoming County.”
