Construction begins on Schwan's plant in Sapulpa

[TURobY]

quote:Schwan's building in Sapulpa
By DEBBIE BLOSSOM World Staff Writer
7/11/2006

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The food company is adding a new sales and distribution center.
Schwan's Home Service Inc., a unit of Schwan Food Co., announced Monday that construction has started on a $2.2 million sales and distribution center in Sapulpa.

The 7,000-square-foot facility, located at 9523 Ridgeway St. in Otis Rule Industrial Park, will employ 15 people and be the base for 10 Schwan's delivery trucks, said company spokesman Chuck Blomberg.

The center will distribute frozen foods in a 75-mile radius of Sapulpa, including customers in the southern half of Tulsa and communities south of the city such as Glenpool, Bixby and Jenks.

A distribution plant in Tulsa will continue to service the north portion of Tulsa and communities north of the city.

A completion date for the project -- by general contractor Larry Finch Building Corp. of Bosley -- was not announced.

The Schwan's center, which will replace a smaller facility that has been in use since 1990, is one of several recent developments in the industrial park, including the new Creek County Justice Center, said Betty Calley, executive director of the Sapulpa Chamber of Commerce.

And while the project will not make a big impact job-wise, "It's nice they are  
 
staying here," she said. "I knew they were wanting to upgrade."

Calley said interest in that particular part of Sapulpa has probably been bolstered by a new exit ramp from the Turner Turnpike that is set to open in September. "We are growing and booming one little step at a time."

Work on the Sapulpa facility begins as Schwan's completes construction on a $2 million Oklahoma City sales and distribution center, Blomberg said. That 10,490-square-foot center has 15 employees and 12 trucks that will deliver the company's line of frozen foods to customers within a 75-mile radius of Oklahoma City.

The Oklahoma centers are part of the Marshall, Minn.-based company's plans to invest about $230 million this year building new depots, upgrading manufacturing plants and enhancing its fleet of propane-powered delivery trucks.

"This prepares the company to grow in those areas," Blomberg said.

Schwan also operates a manufacturing facility in Stilwell that produces Mrs. Smith's pies and desserts. Schwan purchased Mrs. Smith's Bakeries in 2003.

Schwan Food Co. is a privately held business that manufactures and markets frozen foods through home delivery, retail grocery and food service channels. The Schwan's Home Service division, which began in 1952 with the company's signature ice cream, markets and distributes about 400 frozen foods under the Schwan's brand through home-delivery and mail-order services.

Product lines include Schwan's signature ice cream, pizza, choice meats, seafood, ethnic specialties, breakfast items and desserts. The company has more than 500 local sales and distribution centers in 48 states.

Schwan employs about 22,000 people in the United States and Europe.

quote:SAPULPA, Okla. Construction is now under way on a new two-point-two (m) million dollar Schwan's sales and distribution center in Sapulpa.

The new center will replace a smaller distribution center that's been open since 1990.

Schwan's says the center will have 15 employees and be base for ten delivery trucks that will distribute Schwan's frozen foods to businesses in Jenks, Glenpool, Bixby and south Tulsa.

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