Food processing company eyes former Bernz-O-Matic site

File photo by Tom Rivers – Worthington Industries closed its Medina plant last July 31.

RIDGEWAY – The Town Board will be joined by economic development officials at a 7 p.m. public hearing today, seeking state funding for a company to use the former Bernz-O-Matic site for vegetable processing and distribution.

Ridgeway intends to seek a Community Development Block Grant through the state. The manufacturing facility was vacated by Worthington Cylinders last summer and about 150 people were laid off.

Worthington bought Bernz-O-Matic in 2011. Bernz-O-Matic had operated in Medina since 1969, making torches.

Worthington makes cylinders for the torches in Wisconsin. The company closed its site in Medina and shifted the torch production to Wisconsin, where the company said it could do everything at one site, saving in transportation costs.

Orleans Economic Development officials said a Canadian company is eyeing the space for a vegetable and food processing facility at 1 Bernzomatic Drive. The company is considering another location in addition to Medina so the Medina project isn’t a done deal, an economic development official said.

The state funding would make the Medina site a more attractive option for the Canadian company, the official said.