New Chesterfield firm’s workers visit

May 21, 2009 http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/business/local/article/B-SABR21_20090520-213410/268925/

One of the Richmond area's newest manufacturing companies is starting to acquaint itself with the region.

Sabra Dipping Co., a food products company that is building a factory in Chesterfield County, brought about 30 employees from its U.S. sales, marketing and executive team to Richmond this week for a three-day meeting.

Based in Astoria, N.Y., Sabra makes kosher, vegetarian foods. The company announced in November that it would open a plant in the Ruffin Mill Industrial Park in Chesterfield County to make refrigerated dips and spreads, including hummus.

The employees visited the site, where work has started on the plant. The factory is expected to create 260 jobs when it opens by mid-2010.

"Our plans are moving forward," said Meiky Tollman, the company's general manager and executive vice president

Yesterday, the employees took the afternoon to do some community service, helping with cleanup and repairs at the A.P. Hill Community Center in Petersburg.

"We see our future as being part of the community," Tollman said. "We wanted to learn about the community, and to be of service, and to start out the relationship the right way."

Sabra is a joint venture between Strauss Group, Israel's second-largest food company, and Purchase, N.Y.-based beverage company PepsiCo., which owns snack maker Frito-Lay. -- John Reid Blackwell