Canadian bakery makes Brownsburg its U.S. headquarters

A Canadian bakery that has a 20,000-square-foot production facility in Hendricks County said Tuesday it will locate its new U.S. headquarters at the site.

Weston Foods, a North American producer and marketer of baked goods, is investing $1.6 million to renovate its 20,000-square-foot production facility in Brownsburg for its subsidiary Maplehurst Bakeries LLC.

The Toronto-based company also plans to add 15 new jobs by 2018. State officials said the jobs are higher-wage positions with salaries that will be more than 180 percent higher than Indiana’s average wage of about $45,000 per year. That would put the pay in the $80,000-per-year range.

The company said the new jobs will be procurement, sales, supply-chain and operations positions.

The Indiana Economic Development Corp. offered Maplehurt Bakeries up to $220,000 in conditional tax credits. The town of Brownsburg is proposing performance-based tax incentives that will save the company an estimated $104,000 over a five-year period.

"The town is thrilled to see Weston Foods establishing its headquarters in Brownsburg and creating new jobs here," Brownsburg Town Manager Grant Kleinhenz said in a statement. "Maplehurst has long been one of our community's biggest employers and its parent company’s investment here has a major impact on our economy and quality of life."

Weston Foods currently has more than 2,000 employees across the United States, including nearly 500 in Indiana.

In Brownsburg, the company operates seven doughnut production lines serving in-store bakeries and food service distributors. The facility upgrades—which are underway and expected to be finished in September—will provide an open-concept office space and include a new kitchen, bathrooms, flooring, meeting spaces and a modernized research and development center.

“When searching for the ideal place to locate our new U.S. headquarters, Weston Foods considered locations where our company currently runs its bakeries across the country,” said Kevin McDonough, president of Weston Foods North America Frozen, in a written statement.

“We chose Indiana for our headquarters because this state’s business climate is ideal for growing and creating new jobs. With the state’s central U.S. location, being based in Indiana allows us to easily oversee our operations across the country.”

Overall, Weston has 16 facilities in 13 states that produce doughnuts, cakes, pies, cupcakes, cookies, crackers, cones, ice cream novelty products and artisan bread, which are then sold at North American grocery retailers, supermarket chains and food service outlets.

The company announced plans in 2014 to expand its Maplehurst Bakeries facility in Lebanon, where it runs three cake production lines. State officials said the company is on track to meet its goal of creating 219 jobs at the Lebanon facility by the end of 2017.

Weston Foods, founded in 1882, produces fresh and frozen baked goods through its subsidiaries Maplehurst Bakeries, Interbake Foods, Norse Dairy Systems and ACE Bakery in the United States.

Gov. Mike Pence said in a written statement that Weston’s decision to locate its U.S. headquarters in Hendricks County “demonstrates that companies choose to grow in business climates designed to support their success.”

“Weston Foods is the latest company to pick Indiana for its headquarters,” he said, “and we’re happy to welcome the company’s growth and new jobs to the Hoosier state.”