COLLEGEDALE, TENN. — McKee Foods Corp. plans to invest more than $500 million during the next 15 years to expand its manufacturing operations in Collegedale. The company is a manufacturer of bars, granola and snack cakes sold under the Drake’s, Fieldstone Bakery, Little Debbie and Sunbelt Bakery brands.

McKee plans to make an initial investment of $225 million during the next five years to double the current size of its Apison plant in Collegedale and add a new production line. The first phase of the project will begin this summer. No additional details were provided past the first five years of the project.

McKee Foods broke ground on the Apison plant in 1996 and production began in 1997. The plant was expanded in 2006 and again in 2012.

The company has sales of approximately $1.4 billion and employs 6,000. Besides Collegedale, the company has facilities in Gentry, Ark., Stuarts Draft, Va., and Kingman, Ariz.