In response to industry growth, Dot Foods recently completed their sixth, and largest, expansion of their frozen warehouse. The 148,016-square-foot addition is the first to Dot's frozen warehouse since 2007 and will allow the nation's largest food redistributor to aggressively grow their frozen business.
The warehouse opened its doors on August 28, nearly a full month before the projected completion date.
"It was the easiest expansion we've ever had," said Bill Mummey, corporate facilities manager at Dot. "Mother nature couldn't have cooperated better over the winter. We are fortunate to work with high-quality contractors who got this project done well ahead of schedule."
The Stellar Group, Inc., based out of Jacksonville, Florida, managed the construction project which included a minus 10 degree freezer, two 35 degree shipping and loading docks and a 35 degree connecting corridor.
"This was a very efficient project," said Mike Netting, division vice president of distribution facility services at Stellar. "We've had a lot of experience with similar projects. There was a lot of discussion regarding starting construction in December, we took a chance and fortunately the weather cooperated with us, we were able to stay on the site more often than not in this case."
With the additional warehouse space, Dot will be better equipped to bring on larger frozen food manufacturers, which in turn will create more volume and more local jobs.
"Any time we experience growth or expansion, we have a swell of hiring on the horizon," said Christina Crandall, warehouse recruiting manager. "We anticipate this situation will be the same and are aggressively recruiting in all areas."
Dot now has 613,327 square feet of frozen warehouse at their 1.48 million-square-foot corporate facility.