PENNSAUKEN, NJ. — J&J Snack Foods held a ribbon cutting ceremony for the opening of its first owned distribution center in Terrell, Texas, on July 18. The company said the 117,000-square-foot facility, which began operations last month, is “strategically placed” to enhance distribution across the Midwest region of the United States. It is also the first of three planned openings for J&J Snack Foods, with two more facilities opening in the coming months.

The distribution center features 36-foot ceilings to hold 11,000 pallet positions for frozen food storage, which includes a “box-in-a-box”-45°F portion for 350 pallets of Dippin’ Dots beaded ice cream, J&J Snack Foods noted. The facility also has shipping docks with 22 dock doors to keep a temperature of 36°F for “optimal shipping” of Superpretzel soft pretzel products as well as frozen products from the ICEE Co., Luigi’s Real Italian Ice, ¡Hola! Churros, PhillySwirl and Whole Fruit. Other food products stored in the distribution center consist of cookies, pies, funnel cakes and handheld sandwiches.

“We are aggressively investing and positioning our company for the next phase of growth,” said Dan Fachner, president and chief executive officer of J&J Snack Foods. “The opening of our new distribution center will allow us to geographically optimize our distribution and warehouse network. This supply chain transformation will play a pivotal role in reducing distribution costs and providing better service to our customers.”

J&J Snack Foods said the distribution center already has added 30 new jobs to Terrell, with more to come.