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Alpina Foods Breaks Ground on Batavia Yogurt Factory 
 

The Daily News

By Paul Mrozek pmrozek@batavianews.com The Daily News Online

Thu Oct 13, 2011

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Alpina Foods breaks ground on Batavia yogurt factory By Paul Mrozek pmrozek@batavianews.com

BATAVIA — A spattering of rain didn’t dampen spirits Wednesday during Alpina Foods’ ground-breaking for a new yogurt manufacturing plant in the town of Batavia.

Alpina CEO Julian Jaramillo said it is his corporation’s  philosophy to “grow with our surroundings, hand-in-hand with our neighbors.”

The Colombia, South America-based Alpina is constructing a 40,000-square-foot yogurt-making facility on 10 acres in the Genesee Valley Agri-Business Park in the town of Batavia. More than 100 people attended ground-breaking for the $15 million project, which will create 50 jobs.

It was a breezy, cool morning but heavy rain did hold off until the afternoon. Earth-moving equipment began operating as soon as the ceremony concluded.

Those in attendance also sampled some of Alpina’s products such as Restart Yogurt and Avena, an oat-based smoothie.

Mary Pat Hancock tried the yogurt.

“It’s good, developed a taste for it,” she said.

Alpina was created in 1945 by two Swiss entrepreneurs who brought their expertise and families to Sopo Valley, Colombia. The company, headquartered in Bogota, started with a “modest factory,” Jaramillo said.

Alpina now has global sales of $800 million and sells dairy products to 20 countries.

“The foods we make are truly wholesome and we are proud to share it with our own families. By combining our European heritage with our Latin edge, we have continued to innovate, grow, and create hundreds of our beloved products while contributing to the development of the communities around us,” Jaramillo said.

“This is a tremendous day for Alpina Foods,” said General Manager Carlos Ramirez.

“Not only are we building our first North American plant, enabling distribution to U.S. and Canadian markets, we will also develop new products here, specifically created for North American consumers,” Ramirez said.

Alpina’s Ag Park plant should be operating by May 2012 and at full production in July 2012. It will employ 50 people by 2013.

The company’s goal is to increase its total employment in the United States to 80-to-90 within two years. Most of the jobs will be along the East Coast.

It also plans to expand its Batavia facility to 150,000-square feet within five or six years, Ramirez said.

Ramirez said Alpina and its site selection consultant looked at 50 possible locations for the plant before deciding on Batavia. He credited the Genesee County Economic Development Center with convincing the board of directors that Genesee County was the best spot.

“The whole package, for sure,” he said of the GCEDC’s efforts.

Ramirez said the GCEDC walked the company through all the steps it would have to complete to build a factory and operate it. That was in addition to $3.8 million in incentives from entities such as the GCEDC and Empire State Development Corporation.

Industrial development officials in other states and regions offered financial packages but did not use a personal approach, he said.

“We didn’t have any coaching through the process,” Ramirez said.

Two important factors in Alpina’s selection of Batavia were milk production in Western New York and it’s within a day’s drive of huge markets comprising more than 125 million people.

Alpina already has a presence in several markets in the United States, including South Florida and New York City. Its strategy is to expand its presence in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Toronto, Ramirez said.

GCEDC President Steve Hyde thanked everyone and every agency that assisted in the Alpina project. They included Empire State Development, the town and city of Batavia, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Cornell University, Rochester Institute of Technology, University of Rochester, University at Buffalo and Genesee Community College and the County Legislature.

Hyde also thanked public officials and government departments who were part of the effort including State Sen. Mike Ranzenhofer, Assemblyman Steve Hawley, U.S. Department of Agriculture state director Dawn Kuras, Farm Bureau, New York State United States senators Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, state Department of Labor, Tops and Wegman’s supermarkets, National Fuel, National Grid, Greater Rochester Enterprise and Buffalo Niagara Enterprise.