Inventure Foods frozen berries
Inventure plans to add a second manufacturing site to its individually quick frozen berry processing and packaging facility in Lynden, Wash.

PHOENIX — Inventure Foods, Inc. plans to add a second manufacturing site to its existing individually quick frozen (I.Q.F.) berry processing and packaging facility in Lynden, Wash. The new facility in Bellingham, Wash., will begin operations in April.

The company has entered a long-term lease agreement for use of a 35,000-square-foot cold storage and production facility to act as a dedicated packaging center. This move separates the I.Q.F. harvest operations from product packaging, increasing efficiency and processing volume, Inventure said. The expansion will provide the company with more than three times the amount of packaging space than its Lynden facility provides, the company said.

Terry McDaniel, Inventure Foods
Terry McDaniel, c.e.o. of Inventure
“Consumer demand for healthy, natural foods continues to grow, and our Lynden, Wash., berry processing facility operates near capacity as a result,” said Terry McDaniel, chief executive officer of Inventure Foods. “Demand is a great problem to have, so we must constantly identify manufacturing efficiencies that allow for future growth. We added additional I.Q.F. equipment last year to allow us to process 55 million lbs of berries annually at our existing facility, and this new building will open up an additional 10,000 square feet of potential I.Q.F. space in the future. It will also eliminate a 15 mile trip between our current cold storage location and packaging center, so we realize multiple gains from this single move.”