Orleans EDA approves $150K loan for Niagara Food Specialties

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 14 October 2016 at 5:26 pm

YATES – A Canadian-based company that acquired the former Atwater Foods building on Route 18 in Yates was approved for a $150,000 low-interest loan today by the Orleans Economic Development Agency.

Niagara Food Specialties is a meat processor for gourmet markets, including restaurants and hotels. It specializes in prosciutto ham.

The company formed in Canada in 2001 and is based in Niagara Falls, Ont. Niagara Food is moving its meat processing, salting and aging lines from Ontario to Yates.

It is upgrading the former Atwater site, and will use the $150,000 loan for new machinery and equipment, EDA officials said. The company is to pay back the loan over 66 months at 75 percent of the prime rate, current 2.625 percent.

The company is investing about $3.5 million total in the Yates site, a 51,000-square-foot facility. It is projecting to have 18 ½ employees in Yates, said James Whipple, chief executive officer for the Orleans EDA.

Niagara Food co-owners and brothers Mario and Fernando Pingue looked at other sites for the project, including locations in Ontario and Michigan. The Yates site will allow the Pingue brothers to increase production, introduce new products and bring efficiencies to its production process.

Niagara Food Specialties also has been awarded a $100,000 capital grant from Empire State Development. The Town of Yates also has applied for $250,000 in Office of Community Renewal  funding to assist the company.