EYE ON OPERATIONS

Diversified frozen foods processor Rich Products Corporation, Buffalo, N.Y., said it purchased property in Lithonia, Ga., that includes a 189,000-square-foot food manufacturing facility. Officials said the property and facility are located on more than 17 acres in an industrial area within a half-mile of Interstate 20 and about 15 minutes from downtown Atlanta.

“As we continue to expand our presence in the southeast, we identified the property in Lithonia as an excellent opportunity to obtain a quality manufacturing structure in a strategic location,” said Dwight Gram, vice president, communications.  “While there are no immediate plans for the site, it’s a structure that can be ramped up fairly quickly to produce various products consistent with our broad portfolio.”

That frozen portfolio includes toppings and icings, finished desserts, bread and rolls, sweet goods, pizza products, barbecue entrees, appetizers, Italian specialties, shrimp and seafood.

Officials said the Lithonia plant opened in 1970 to process poultry for Gold Kist. It was sold in 1980 to PET Incorporated and later expanded to make pie shells, cookies, waffles, tortillas and burritos. The facility was sold again in 2004 to Miller International Baking and used to make biscuits, but fell into foreclosure two years ago.

“Securing this location provides our company with tremendous flexibility as we continue our future planning, especially for that region of the country where we are projecting continued growth,” said Gram.