Fruit processor to open plant in Cache Valley

Brice Wallace 

A Portuguese company that prepares fruits for use in food products will mix into the manufacturing community in Logan, adding 131 jobs over the next 15 years.

Frulact is a food manufacturing company that develops and produces value-added and tailor-made ingredients for the food industry, especially fruit preparations, plant-based products and flavors that are used in yogurts, ice creams, beverages, pastries and desserts. Its products are found in North America brands Yoplait, Danone, Kroger, Fage and Lactalis.{mprestriction ids="1,3"}

The $75.6 million project in Logan is expected to mirror the company’s operations in Ontario, Canada. The company has 949 employees worldwide, including 101 in Canada and 397 in Portugal. It has 11 factories worldwide and four business segments.

Frulact was established in 1987. Its headquarters are in Portugal, and the company is owned  by Ardian, a France-based private equity investment company.

“We at Frulact place a high importance on our company’s reputation as a major innovator as a solution ingredient supplier to the food industry,” Rogerio Silva, the company’s chief operating officer, said in a prepared statement. “Given our expertise in fruit preparations and the plant-based products market segment, we believe Logan is a perfect fit for our new expansion to North America.

“The solution Logan offered featured a combination of an existing workforce with food processing skills at all levels, proximity to western U.S. customers, and property solution with valuable infrastructure, all of which played a decisive role in our decision. We’re also very grateful to the state of Utah and its considerable support for this project.”

Utah faced competition from Oregon to land the project. The Utah Governor’s Office of Economic Opportunity (Go Utah) board, at its July meeting, approved a tax credit incentive for Frulact USA LCC of about $2 million over 15 years.

The project is expected to generate total new wages of about $124 million over 15 years and new state tax revenue of nearly $8.3 million during that time. The new jobs are projected to have average pay of $89,141. A company official told the Go Utah board that the jobs will be focused on production but also include research and development and business development positions.

“We’re excited about the prospect of them coming and welcome them wholeheartedly,” Kirk Jensen, economic development director for Logan, told the Go Utah board.

“We’re thrilled and we love Logan and the Cache Valley. … This is going to be an exciting project,” said Steve Neeleman, the board’s acting chairman.

“Frulact has a worldwide reputation for quality food preparations,” Dan Hemmert, Go Utah executive director, said in a prepared statement. “With this new facility, Frulact adds to Logan’s thriving food manufacturing sector. Frulact also offers employees high wages, generous benefits and work flexibility. The company’s efforts to be an employer of choice gives us one more reason to extend them a warm welcome to the state of Utah.”

“Bringing this established European brand to Logan shows that the world has its eyes on Utah,” said Theresa A. Foxley, president and CEO of the Economic Development Corporation of Utah. “Frulact will play an integral role in improving the supply chain resilience of key food manufacturers in Utah and the western U.S. We know Frulact will find a welcoming community to begin establishing their U.S. presence.”

Go Utah does not provide upfront cash incentives. Each year that a company meets the obligations in its contract with the state, it will qualify to receive a portion of the new, additional state taxes that the company paid to the state.{/mprestriction}