Alpina Foods

Alpina is an international dairy processing company headquartered in Bogota, Colombia that produces consumer dairy products targeted toward consumers of Latin descent. Alpina was looking to expand their business to the United States to gain greater market access and therefore conducted a national study to identify and optimize a location for a new facility to process and distribute products for consumption.  The results of the study found the North East to be the ideal location for the company’s expansion.  Alpina planned to take occupancy of a new facility by 2nd or 3rd quarter 2011, and to hire between 25-50 people within the first five years.
For Alpina to expand to the United States they needed to acquire affordable real estate, identify a qualified and skilled workforce, and investigate state and regional incentive programs to make the project viable. It was imperative for Alpina to thoroughly understand their operating costs, and viability of a manufacturing facility in the US. The company also needed to locate to an area where a large milk supply could be accessed in order to fulfill their production process requirements. 
After receiving an RFI from the company’s site selection consultant, BNE reached out to regional real estate owners, developers, and public agencies to gather a list of potential sites for Alpina.  After receiving numerous site submissions from various regional groups and states, the company narrowed their options down to a short list which included the Agri-Business Park, in Batavia NY.  This property was submitted by BNE Investor; Genesee County Economic Development Corporation (GCEDC).  After an initial meeting and site tour, a piece of property located in the Agri-Business Park was identified as one of four options where Alpina would potentially build a facility.  The company then made numerous site visits in Pennsylvania where the other three options were located, but found that the Genesee County site met their needs at an affordable price.  During their due diligence period, Alpina worked with GCEDC to ensure that there was an abundant milk supply in Buffalo Niagara region that would adequately fulfill their demand and production schedule.  GCEDC also introduced the company to local farmers so they could negotiate a dedicated supply, price, and agreement.   Additional meetings were arranged to discuss the recruiting of food processing workforce, availability, and appropriate wage rates.  The company met with Empire State Development Corp. (ESDC) to discuss state incentive programs that coordinated with local and county level programs.