Ontario, Calif.-based Tropicale Foods, the leading Hispanic frozen novelty company in the U.S., is investing $75 million to renovate and retrofit a 227,000-sq-ft existing factory in Lubbock, Texas, to create a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility. The facility will serve as a key production hub to support the company’s continued growth and to meet the rapidly growing consumer demand for its portfolio of products.
The facility will manufacture a variety of Tropicale Foods products under the Helados Mexico and La Michoacana brands, including paletas (ice cream bars) in flavors, such as Bubble Gum and Choco-Fresa, and a chocolate-covered strawberry bar. Projected to be operational by the second quarter of next year, the site is expected to create up to 500 new jobs.
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“I am excited to have the new Lubbock factory join our network of manufacturing facilities and serve as a key production hub to support the company’s continued national growth,” says Steven Schiller, Tropicale Foods CEO. “In addition to aligning with Tropicale’s growth trajectory, the opening of this facility allows us to continue to excite and delight our consumers with our market leading paletas and serve our retail partners at the highest levels.”
Another part of the decision to build a new site may be attributed to supply change difficulties. “We’ve having longer lead times for orders,” Schiller says. “Domestically, things are snarled, and there is a shortage of space for frozen products because more people have stocked up on frozen products during COVID-19. Everything is taking longer and there are all sorts of surcharges on diesel and gas fuel. Prices have gone up.”
