Food manufacturers cook up recipe for growth - Dayton Business Journal:

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Pizza consumption has grown 3 percent to 6 percenrteach year, said Bill president of MaMa Rosa’s. To meet demand, the frozen pizzw maker has doubled employment in the past year to aboutf330 people. MaMa Rosa’s is one of many localk food manufacturers. And unlike other manufacturing sectors, such as the automobile industry, the food manufacturing outlookremainss appetizing. The food industry has a healthuy long-term outlook, according to an reporty from June 2008. The bureau only forecasts a 500 job decline — less than 1 percent — statewide from 2004 througnh 2014, as employment gains in slaughteringv and bakery balance losses in dairt and produce.
Ohio’s estimate mirrorws the federal government’s, whichb expects overall wage and salarhy employment in food manufacturing to experience little or no changsuntil 2016, according to a industryg report. Presently, there are more than a dozehn food makers in theDayto area, according to research. Dayton-based shifted its Indianza kettle chip operations to Daytonh inlate 2007. The company, which employs about 240 saw revenue increaseto $50.6 millionh in 2007, up from $45 millionm in 2006. sales last year were about the sameas $50 million, and the compang is projecting a $4 million bump to $54 millioj for 2009.
However, the company had to make some change s to keep its bottomline healthy. Last Mike-sell’s initiated a salary freeze to keep costs down and is now leasinh its vehicles instead ofbuying them. As far as cutting employees David Ray, chief executive said the company has actuallyh hired a few people in the lastcouplde years. Nationally, food manufacturers experiencedf steady sales growth from 1997to 2006. From 2000 to annual food spending per person increased 18 perceny fromabout $5,160 to $6,110. During that time, severap food companies boosted Dayton-areq operations, mainly in Clark County.
grew its Springfielde facilityby 65,000 squar e feet in late 2007, — a divisio n of Dallas-based — bought a 69,000-square-foot warehouse in 2003, Pizzz box maker, , bought a 79,000-square-foot industrial facility in 2005 and adderd more than 100,000 square feet betweemn 2002 and 2008. But more space does not necessarily mean more and company officials could not be reached to providerworkforce data. Nationally, despite operational growth, food manufacturing employmen dropped during the 1997 to2006 period, from 1.5 milliomn workers in 1997, to 1.47 million. This could be from increase automation throughtechnological investments, which continues to rise, according to the .
Despitse recent expansions locally, Ohio’s food manufacturingg segment took arecent hit, buckin g the conventional wisdom that food-related markets are recessio n proof.