MONTICELLO - Family Fresh Pack is expanding its specialty cheese packaging operation in Monticello and expects to add about 30 new jobs eventually for the area's work force.
Family Fresh Pack, headquartered in Belleville, announced Thursday that it has purchased an 80,000-square-foot factory building on six acres of property less than a half mile north of the company's other Monticello location on North Pratt Road.
Todd Kriebs, general manager of Family Fresh Pack, said the purchase offers new possibilities for continued growth and expansion for Family Fresh Pack and makes a contribution to the economic development of Monticello and Wisconsin.
The company is targeting March 2013 to start production at its new cheese packaging facility, which will take over a long-time hanger manufacturing facility. The last company to own the hangar factory closed it down in January 2011, following a bankruptcy and foreclosure, and the small village of 1,200 people lost about 40 jobs.
The northern facility is "wide open with nothing to tear down," Kriebs said. "We need to renovate some areas (inside) to make a nice flow for products and employees."
A multi-million dollar renovation is scheduled to begin shortly after September 1 and to take about eight months to complete.
Family Fresh Pack will be creating a "box-in-a-box" facility, which will seal the factory interior with wall that can be washed down, epoxy floors, stainless steel drain and a "substantial cooling system," Kriebs said.
The company also plans to add highly automated "state-of-the-art" equipment in the facility, which will expand its capabilities and operations, including cheese cut-and-wrap and cheese crumble product lines.
"That's one of the big changes coming," Kriebs said. "Our current facility is labor intensive where we rely on employees and less on automation. Increasing automation will kick out more."
The additional high-level machinery means Family Fresh Pack will also be looking for some higher skill level machine operators, Kriebs added. Wages start at $8.75 to 9.50 per hour, plus benefits, for lesser skilled packaging positions.
Family Fresh Pack now employs about 60-70 full-time employees and about 40 more seasonal employees at its two facilities.
The current 20,000 square-foot Monticello facility runs the company's main cut-and-wrap business, the crumble and shred line, and the cheese ball line. Recent additions to the Monticello plant's specialties are Mediterranean-inspired cheese-stuffed olives and olive tapenades featuring Wisconsin Feta cheese.
A 13,000-square-foot Belleville plant focuses on spreads and form fill packaging.
Family Fresh Pack has operated as a specialty cheese packaging converter in the heart of Wisconsin's cheese country since 1995, catering to the needs of small- to mid-sized cheese factories that cannot afford their own state-of-the-art, high-speed packaging equipment. Family Fresh Pack products have received numerous awards, including first place honors for cheese spreads in the World Cheese Championship Competition, as well as honors in the American Cheese Society; the U.S. Championship Cheese Competition; and the Wisconsin State Cheese and Butter Competition.
Family Fresh Pack, headquartered in Belleville, announced Thursday that it has purchased an 80,000-square-foot factory building on six acres of property less than a half mile north of the company's other Monticello location on North Pratt Road.
Todd Kriebs, general manager of Family Fresh Pack, said the purchase offers new possibilities for continued growth and expansion for Family Fresh Pack and makes a contribution to the economic development of Monticello and Wisconsin.
The company is targeting March 2013 to start production at its new cheese packaging facility, which will take over a long-time hanger manufacturing facility. The last company to own the hangar factory closed it down in January 2011, following a bankruptcy and foreclosure, and the small village of 1,200 people lost about 40 jobs.
The northern facility is "wide open with nothing to tear down," Kriebs said. "We need to renovate some areas (inside) to make a nice flow for products and employees."
A multi-million dollar renovation is scheduled to begin shortly after September 1 and to take about eight months to complete.
Family Fresh Pack will be creating a "box-in-a-box" facility, which will seal the factory interior with wall that can be washed down, epoxy floors, stainless steel drain and a "substantial cooling system," Kriebs said.
The company also plans to add highly automated "state-of-the-art" equipment in the facility, which will expand its capabilities and operations, including cheese cut-and-wrap and cheese crumble product lines.
"That's one of the big changes coming," Kriebs said. "Our current facility is labor intensive where we rely on employees and less on automation. Increasing automation will kick out more."
The additional high-level machinery means Family Fresh Pack will also be looking for some higher skill level machine operators, Kriebs added. Wages start at $8.75 to 9.50 per hour, plus benefits, for lesser skilled packaging positions.
Family Fresh Pack now employs about 60-70 full-time employees and about 40 more seasonal employees at its two facilities.
The current 20,000 square-foot Monticello facility runs the company's main cut-and-wrap business, the crumble and shred line, and the cheese ball line. Recent additions to the Monticello plant's specialties are Mediterranean-inspired cheese-stuffed olives and olive tapenades featuring Wisconsin Feta cheese.
A 13,000-square-foot Belleville plant focuses on spreads and form fill packaging.
Family Fresh Pack has operated as a specialty cheese packaging converter in the heart of Wisconsin's cheese country since 1995, catering to the needs of small- to mid-sized cheese factories that cannot afford their own state-of-the-art, high-speed packaging equipment. Family Fresh Pack products have received numerous awards, including first place honors for cheese spreads in the World Cheese Championship Competition, as well as honors in the American Cheese Society; the U.S. Championship Cheese Competition; and the Wisconsin State Cheese and Butter Competition.