Shearer's chip plant expansion moves ahead despite deed transfer

WATERFORD —The former Troyer Farms snack food plant in Waterford has a new owner.

But only on paper.

According to a deed recorded at the Erie County Courthouse, Shearers Foods Waterford LLC has sold the chip plant property at 821 Route 97 to Snackhouse Portfolio Property LLC, a Minnesota-based entity that was formed earlier this month.

The price, according to court records, was $11.528 million.

The Troyer family built the potato chip plant in 1967 and sold the operation to Bickel's Snack Foods Inc. in 2008. Bickel's moved production out of Waterford to its York headquarters in 2011. Shearer's bought the plant in 2016.

Mark Troyer, who previously owned the plant and continues to supply potatoes for use there, said Thursday he knew nothing about a possible sale.

"They are in the midst of an expansion program," Troyer said. "They are in the midst of that work and everything is going full bore."

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Troyer was referring to a $27.5 million expansion plan, announced in September, to add 100,000 square feet and a production line for baked snacks.

As part of that expansion program, Shearer's, based in Massillon, Ohio, said it expected to boost employment from 200 to about 240.

Turns out that operations at the plant, including the ongoing expansion, are expected to continue as usual.

Tina Mengine, CEO of the Erie County Redevelopment Authority, which helped secure financing for the expansion project, said Shearer's still owns and operates the business in Waterford.

"The transaction was a long-term sale-leaseback of real estate only," she said.

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In other words, the company sold the real estate to an entity that will lease the facility to Shearer's. It's a common business arrangement used by many companies for a variety of reasons.

While employees won't likely see any changes related to that deed transfer, in an unrelated move, fans of Shearer's brand chips are likely to notice a change on the shelves of their local grocery or convenience store.

The company has discontinued production of snacks carrying the Shearer's name and will focus instead on private label brands, according to a report in The Independent newspaper in Massillon, Ohio.

Ohio report:Shearer's Foods stops making its branded chips to focus on private label business

More:Shearer's Foods stops making its branded chips to focus on private label business

The Shearer's website refers to the company as "the leading private brand manufacturer in North America."

There's no indication that the focus on private labels will affect the ongoing expansion.

The company announced in September that it needed to expand one of its North American plants and chose the Erie County facility.

"It's a major project for us," Fritz Kohlmann, the company's chief financial officer said in September. He predicted the project would take about a year to complete.

Originally a family-owned company when it was founded in 1974, Shearer's has been owned since 2015 by the Ontario Teacher's Pension Plan.

Contact Jim Martin at 814-881-5229 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @ETNMartin.