BROWNSVILLE, Texas – A global food supplier is making a major capital investment at the Brownsville, Texas, plant it opened nearly six decades ago.
Buffalo-N.Y.-based Rich’s Products Corp. has announced it will pump more than $120 million to expand its operation on East Fourteenth Street and will create nearly 60 new full-time jobs.
Such a move will increase its workforce to nearly 500, thus becoming one of the city’s major industrial employers.
Rich’s, as the family-owned food company is known, supplies its products to companies all over the world including supermarket chains and bakeries. Among the products the company supplies are pizza crust, cheese products and seafood products like shrimp.
On Wednesday, March 29, company and elected officials with the City of Brownsville met at city hall to sign an agreement under a Chapter 380 economic development partnership between the public and private sectors.
Eddie De La Rosa, Rich’s plant manager, said the company is making a major investment at its current location in Brownsville.
“We have been here for nearly 60 years,” he said. “We are a global company that distributes our products all over the world.”
De la Rosa said among the main items Rich’s is known for are the breaded mozzarella cheese sticks consumers buy at some of their favorite supermarkets. In addition to that, the company is major supplier of baked goods, desserts and shrimp.
The plant manager said they distribute the seafood items prepared in a number of ways, including popcorn, butterflied and scampi.
Nurith Galonsky, a city commissioner who acted as mayor pro tem during the signing event, described the occasion as a great day for Brownsville.
“This is one of the major capital investments in the city,” she said. “This is right in our backyard.”
City commissioners John Cowen, Roy De Los Santos and Jessica Tetreau also attended the brief ceremony held to mark the start of the expansion that will add nearly 160,000 square feet to the plant’s existing 120,000 square feet of space it has today.
Under the terms of the agreement, the city will give Rich’s a tax abatement over a period of ten years or from 2024 through 2034.
The company will also receive a $406,000 economic stimulus package from the Greater Brownsville Incentives Corporation for staff development and training.
“This is so inspiring,” Galonsky said. “This is going to make our city more prosperous.”
Rich’s was founded in 1945 by Robert E. Rich Sr. The company has annual sales of $4 billion, employs some 12,500 people worldwide, distributes more than 4,000 products and operates in about 100 countries, according to the company’s website.
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