New company promises jobs for Belleville

(BELLEVILLE 08/05/11) Gary Haley, president of Vantage Foods, announces there will be 150 jobs when the new plant opens in Belleville. Photo by Jennifer Bowman

By Jennifer Bowman

A new meat packaging plant promises to provide 150 fulltime jobs in Belleville when it opens its doors in November.

Gary Haley, president of Vantage Foods, made the announcement Friday morning at what used to be ANR Foods Inc. on Jamieson Bone Road, the site where Vantage Foods will open its facilities.

“Many of the staff will not require degrees,” said Haley. “They will be machine operators for which we have our own internal training.”

Haley said there will be about 20 management positions, most of which have already been hired, that will need university degrees. Besides the 150 fulltime opportunities, he said there will also be part time jobs in sales to help with the increased volume of customers on weekends. They will begin hiring production staff on October 1.

Vantage Foods is a North American company that packages meat so it’s ready for grocery store shelves. It received $2.5 million of provincial funding through the Rural Economic Development Program and the Eastern Ontario Development Fund to help with the start-up costs. Belleville is its first plant in Ontario.

Belleville Mayor Neil Ellis said there would be more than 150 more jobs when Vantage Foods moves into town. He said the plant would create spinoff jobs in other areas such as transportation.

Vantage Foods has three other plants, two in Western Canada and one in North Carolina. The Belleville building is the smallest of the four with 42,000 square feet. Haley expects it to become the biggest.

“We acquired a building on a 13-acre site. It doesn’t occupy anywhere near the 13 acres, and so we see ourselves expanding,” said Haley.

Ellis said the company has a good history.

“You look at their track record, and the track history, and the companies that they deal with is all blue chip,” said Ellis.

ANR Foods Inc. opened on the site in 2008, but went into receivership a year later during the economic downturn.

“One plant’s unsuccessfulness is tagged to another plant’s successfulness,” said Eillis.

Vantage Foods is prepared to send trucks packing as soon as it opens.

“We in fact don’t build facilities until we have demand secured on a long-term arrangement. And so we are in a very good position and our retailers are rather anxious that we get the facility open and start supplying them,” said Haley.

The company prepares beef, pork, lamb, and veal. It will use Ontario-raised beef and pork, some of it from local farmers.

It will be sent as far as the Maritimes, but they don’t ship further than 1,000 kilometres, said Haley.

He said easy access to Hwy 401 was one of the drawing points for Belleville.

Loyalist College has been working with Vantage Foods, providing space for meetings and interviews, aptitude tests, and a variety of other things. John O’Rourke, director of skills programming department at Loyalist College, said there is a possibility of apprenticeships with the company.

Apprenticeships could start as soon as the company opens its doors, said O’Rourke.

Many companies choose to hire apprentices right away because it brings the level of skill up in their workers, he said.