It’s full speed ahead as far as the rebuilding of Chapman’s Ice Cream factory in Markdale is concerned.
Co-Owner Penny Chapman says they have made remarkable progress with the so called Phoenix Project since last September’s fire that destroyed the original ice cream facility.
She says all the site preparation has been completed, footings laid and the structural steel should be going up in the next few weeks and then the new building will finally begin to take shape.
The new facility will be quite larger than the one destroyed by fire with about 165 thousand square feet of space.
Chapman says anticipating the opening of the new facility and the addition of two more product lines to the plant purchased after the fire, they are hiring additional employees.
She says several different type of trades positions have been advertised and she hopes the workforce can be increased from its current number of 300 to about 350 people.
Chapman says they were fortunate that they were able to keep everyone on the payroll after the fire doing everything from painting, to maintenance, to preparing their mini plant to produce product.
She says the fire and lost of production did result in a bit of hit for the company as far as losing market share is concerned because there just was no product to stock the grocery store freezers.
However Chapman is confident that consumers will continue to rally behind the company and continue to purchase a totally made in Canada product produced by a family owned business.
