Displaying items tagged: foodagri

HUDSONVILLE — Two Hudsonville-based food businesses have landed a combined $210,000 in state grant money to help fund expansion projects.

KALAMAZOO — Craft brewing pioneer Bell’s Brewery Inc., known for its popular Two Hearted Ale and Oberon brands, will be transitioning to new ownership. 

Kevin Farhat has a fully staffed Garage Bar & Grill near downtown Grand Rapids, and he’s hired about 30 more people to work at a new location opening soon in Ada.

KENTWOOD — A Vancouver-based beverage packaging manufacturer that has expanded its presence in the United States plans to purchase a Grand Rapids area company.

GRAND RAPIDS — The owner of southern-style restaurant The Candied Yam LLC is eyeing an expansion with a new banquet hall and restaurant along South Division Avenue in Grand Rapids. 

ALPINE TWP. — Fresh produce distributor Vine Line Group LLC has changed hands following a recent sale.

HOLLAND TWP. — Frozen food processor Request Foods Inc. is planning a $205 million expansion in an effort to meet rising demand while diversifying its products and services.

Kent County is moving forward on plans for a roughly $370 million sustainable business park which public works officials hope will resolve the region’s fragmented and disjointed organic waste management infrastructure.

When Brooklyn, N.Y.-based urban indoor farming operation Square Roots Urban Growers broke into the $8.1 billion packaged salads and greens segment of the food industry this month, the company did so by leveraging a crucial partnership in West Michigan.

BATTLE CREEK — Kellogg Co. plans to invest roughly $45 million to reorganize its North American supply chain network, a move that already has had a negative effect on workers in its hometown of Battle Creek.

Anna Link and the rest of her family at Swisslane Dairy Farms Inc. encounter plenty of tough jobs on their 2,000-cattle farm in Alto.

KENTWOOD — Jason Spaulding recalled in the spring of 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic decimated the bar and restaurant industry and left him sitting on 400 kegs of dead beer.

Befitting a company that prides itself on riding the cutting edge of the craft beer industry, Traverse City-based Right Brain Brewery was perhaps the first brewer to ever bring a hydrogen-infused beer to the commercial market.

KALAMAZOO — Kalsec Inc., a global producer of natural spices, advanced hop products and herb flavor extracts, has invested $10 million into a new technology center that will enhance its research and innovation capabilities.

ST. JOSEPH — Family-owned temperature-controlled warehousing and logistics provider Hanson Cold Storage Co., which does business as Hanson Logistics, has been sold to a Southeast Michigan company. 

In 2019, Becky Huttenga led a comprehensive survey of Ottawa County’s agricultural landowners in an effort to understand the industry’s most pressing needs.

Daniel Estrada says his company’s resilience often resonates with investors.

After serving as CEO of Dallas-based Borden Dairy Co., Tony Sarsam took the reins of Byron Center-based grocery distributor and retailer SpartanNash Co. (Nasdaq:SPTN) last September during the COVID-19 pandemic.

CALEDONIA — Grocery distributor and retailer SpartanNash Co. today celebrated the grand opening of its first micro-fulfillment center, which the company expects to more effectively serve a growing number of online customers.

CANNON TWP. — The Mitten Brewing Co. is once again leaning on pizza — a company mainstay that helped it through its early brewing years as well as the COVID-19 pandemic — with a new takeout and delivery concept.

BYRON CENTER — Grocery retailer and distributor SpartanNash Co. has announced a new “Micro-Fulfillment Center” that will assemble online grocery orders to be shipped to local grocery stores or homes.

CALEDONIA — Dan Vukcevich admitted that his only previous farming experience was growing up on a cattle farm that never made any money.

 Kris Spaulding, co-owner and president of Grand Rapids-based Brewery Vivant, has long advocated for sustainability and diversity, equity and inclusion in the local brewing community. Now she has a larger platform to promote the business values.

GRAND RAPIDS — Cindy Schneider was ready to apply for a small business loan in March 2020 to open a new restaurant in downtown Grand Rapids when COVID-19 put her plans on hold.

When Courtney Lorenz launched her business in 2015 brewing and selling kombucha, she started working with just three 5-gallon containers. 

The meat supply chain is bracing for potential fallout from a disruption in production as the world’s largest meat producer rebounds from a devastating cyberattack.

As a producer that heavily supplies the food service industry, Swanson Pickle Co. Inc. had to make profound adjustments to its sales channels when the COVID-19 pandemic changed buying habits.

Like nearly everyone in the restaurant industry, Jessica Ann Tyson has dealt with a barrage of challanges throughout the course of the last 15 months.

Despite a season last year filled with widespread shutdowns and canceled events, farmers markets across Michigan not only survived the pandemic, but in some cases thrived.

ROCKFORD — Rockford Brewing Co. LLC has unveiled plans to renovate a nearby historic building and expand with the new Malph’s Pizza Pub concept.