Pinnacle Foods Announces Expansion in St. Elmo

Pinnacle Foods has announced an expansion at their St. Elmo plant and plans to add 90 jobs in the first half of 2015.

The expansion is due to plans to locate the manufacturing of Pinnacle's recently-acquired Wish-Bone salad dressings business at the plant.  The St. Elmo plant now employs 85 people.

The company plans to invest $40-$50 million over the next 12-18 months to purchase new equipment, expand the plant footprint and improve existing infrastructure.

Pinnacle completed the acquisition of the Wish-Bone and Western salad dressings business from Unilever in October and previously announced plans to consolidate production of the products into an existing Pinnacle facility.  St. Elmo was identified as the best location for the integration, given its geographic location and proven expertise in liquid filling and processing.  The St. Elmo plant currently manufactures Pinnacle's Mrs. Butterworth and Log Cabin syrups, and Open Pit barbecue sauces.

Pinnacle Foods will receive support in the form of grants from the State of Illinois and assistance from the City of St. Elmo and Fayette County.