Potato Chip Factory Bringing New Jobs To Stark County

Tuesday,  July 14, 2009 5:30 PM

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MASSILLON, Ohio — It's one of the largest snack food companies in the world.

On Tuesday it's northeast Ohio owners announced huge expansion plans that includes hiring hundreds of workers.

Jack Shearer was in the grocery business back in 1974, but that didn't satisfy his corporate cravings, "I was always anxious to do something more" Shearer said.

On Tuesday, with the help of his sons, Shearer Foods announces a $100 million expansion of it's snack food company.

A company based out of Brewster in Stark County, but one digging up dirt in nearby Massillon.

"It's not about making great potato chips and great snacks.  It's about the people," said Shear Foods CEO Bob Shearer.

In the first phase of this project, Shearer's will hire about 140 employees who will be making tortilla chips. Once the project is complete in the next two years 700 to 800 jobs are expected to be created.

"These kinds of announcement are basically, sometimes, once in a lifetime," said Massillon Mayor Frank Ciccinelli Junior.  He acknowledges the financial boost this plant will bring to his city, the hundreds of families that will benefit from a job, and being the first gold-certified, environmentally friendly food plant in the state is a green bonus.

"The fryers that we're using, the ovens, all the heat that goes up the stack on these items is going to be recovered and going to be used to heat the building," said Scott Weyandt the facilities Manager For Shearer's Foods.

The land at 4100 Millennium Blouevard in Massillon's Northeast Ohio Commercial Park will soon become that state of the art facility.

A dream Grandpa Shearer is eating up, tasting the fruits of his sweet and salty success, "I guess there's one thing I've always said, if you have a good product, and you have good service, and you have good people, this can be the answer" Weyandt said.

With nearly 800 new jobs expected to be created in the next two years in Massillon, Shearer's will double it's workforce.

There are currently 850 employees at facilities in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Texas.


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