Following the sealing on an exclusive, multi-year deal with the Kraft Heinz Company naming it as the exclusive manufacturer and supplier of Ore-Ida frozen potato products, the J.R. Simplot Company has taken ownership of an existing Ore-Ida processing plant in Ontario, Oregon. Kraft Heinz continues to own the brand.
“We’re thrilled to welcome these employees to our company and excited about the added capacity and distribution capabilities this acquisition provides,” said Mark McKellar, president of the Simplot Food Group. “The Ore-Ida brand is well known and loved in many of the same communities where we do business…With our combined history of high quality frozen potato products and our continued dedication to the communities where we operate and the customers we serve, we have a bright future in front of us.”
Ore-Ida was founded in Ontario in 1949 and is a well known brand in the United States retail frozen potato sector. This agreement expands Simplot’s processing and distribution capabilities and adds a number of job opportunities at the facility that currently employs approximately 600 people. The plant is in close proximity to Simplot’s headquarters in Boise, Idaho, and to one of its largest potato processing facilities in Caldwell, Idaho.
The deal, signed on February 22 and scheduled for finalization later in the spring, will enable Simplot to supply potatoes for Ore-Ida products beginning in the 2023-24 growing season.
