Green Mountain coffee plant to expand in Knoxville, TN
Thursday February 05, 2009
Green Mountain adding roasting, processing operation
The sour economy doesn't seem to be weakening the taste for coffee, at least for Waterbury, Vt.-based Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc., which is reporting hefty first-quarter profits and announcing it is adding an $8 million coffee roasting and processing operation to its East Tennessee manufacturing plant in Knoxville.
First quarter net sales totaled $197.0 million as compared to $126.4 million reported in the same period a year ago, a 56 percent increase.
The Forks of the River plant makes "K-Cup" coffee portion packs for Keurig Single-Cup coffee makers. The planned roasting and processing operation will be used to support the production lines in operation at the plant now, according to the statement.
In November, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters started production at its 334,000-square-foot facility on 31 acres in East Knox County. This was an expansion for the company, which operates a roasting and distribution facility in Waterbury and a manufacturing center in Essex, Vt. Green Mountain wanted to build production capacity outside New England in order to support growth across the country.
"This investment in our manufacturing capacity will allow us to continue to strengthen our infrastructure for the national expansion of our brands and our growth in the single-serve market," said Scott McCreary, Green Mountain Coffee chief operating officer. "The increased capacity through our packaging, and now our roasting and grinding, gives us added flexibility to support our projected growth over the next several years, and creates opportunities for longer-term efficiency gains."
The company is now looking into various roasting and grinding equipment suppliers and in the spring plans to start building a structure to hold coffee silos for the new operation. The goal is to have all equipment in place and working with the rest of the plant by early fall.
During the first quarter, Green Mountain shipped 357 million Keurig K-Cup portion packs, a 55 percent increase over first quarter 2008.
"Even in a difficult consumer economy, (Green Mountain) is driving significant top and bottom growth with innovative products that have tremendous consumer appeal and are positioned at the intersection of quality and value," Blanford said.
Source: Knoxville News Sentinel
