(This article originally was published in the Lehigh Valley Commercial Real Estate Report for Q3 2023.)
If you’re in the Northeastern United States and swigging a Samuel Adams beer, munching on Stuffed Puffs, or pouring preservative-free Freshpet into your dog’s bowl, you and Rover are experiencing a taste of Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania. 
Long a major center for industrial manufacturing, this two-county region, anchored by the cities of Allentown, Bethlehem, and Easton, has become a major center for producing beverages and food - including some of the world’s most iconic brands - for people and pets.
The Lehigh Valley’s access to agricultural areas, abundance of fresh water and natural resources, and proximity to major East Coast population centers have long made it an ideal location for food and beverage manufacturing, with employment growing at a faster rate than the nation. Lehigh Valley is the birthplace of the U.S. organic food movement and home to an innovation campus for growing food and beverage companies.
At the end of the third quarter of 2023, about a fifth of the economic development prospects considering the Lehigh Valley for a business location were in the food and beverage industry. A nearly 180,000-square-foot food manufacturing and storage facility has been proposed in Hanover Township, Northampton County, that could employ up to 240 workers in a 24-hour operation.
Employment in food and beverage production has increased by about 40% in the last decade, to about 6,800 people. Nearly half of all dog and cat food production jobs in Pennsylvania are in the Lehigh Valley.
On land where the spines of skyscrapers and battleships once streamed out of Bethlehem Steel, produce is now being grown by Bowery Farming, the largest vertical farming operation in the nation. Not far away, the famous Peeps that fill Easter baskets are made at Just Born candies.
Joining Boston Beer in making drinks are Ocean Spray, Keurig Dr Pepper, and a large Coca-Cola facility.
Joining Freshpet in feeding cats and dogs are Nestle Purina and Spot & Tango, another producer of preservative-free gourmet pet meals that recently relocated from Brooklyn, N.Y.
The diverse range of production includes Bakerly/Norac Foods, a French maker of baked pasta and frozen desserts, and Bimbo Bakeries, the world’s largest bread maker.
None of this happened by accident.
Forward-thinking leaders laid the groundwork in the 1980s when they invested in a multimillion-dollar pre-treatment wastewater facility on a cornfield near Allentown. It ensured there would be infrastructure that attracted a cluster of food and beverage producers that needed specialized treatment for waste output.
That infrastructure was a crowning asset for a region flush with available land and water, a large and skilled manufacturing workforce, and a desirable location.
The Lehigh Valley sits amid an interstate highway system that reaches both the ports of Philadelphia and New York in about one hour. One-third of U.S. consumers are within a day’s drive of the Lehigh Valley. A truck can be north of Boston, south of Richmond, Va., and west of Pennsylvania into Ohio and the Great Lakes regions within six hours.
The economics of making things and moving them to market quicker and cheaper are the cornerstones of growing a production center.
Most recently, a unique innovation and investment center has been added to the equation. Food industry entrepreneur Richard Thompson, who helped to grow the Meow Mix brand, Freshpet, and the American Italian Pasta company, put down roots with Factory, a food industry accelerator at a former Bethlehem Steel facility. The $250 million fund invests in food and beverage producers in the $3-to-$15 million range, takes a majority position, and then brings them into the specialized facility.
Once there, company leaders enter an MBA-like program of training and development in everything from product creation, packaging, distribution, marketing, and finance and administration. Test kitchens, tasting sessions, and simulated facilities are available in a cutting-edge growth center.
One of Factory’s early investments, Stuffed Puffs, hit big and moved into a large manufacturing facility just north of Bethlehem. Founder Michael Tierney developed a process to inject chocolate inside a marshmallow, short-circuiting the process of constructing a s’more.
Building off that innovation, Stuffed Puffs has partnered with other major national brands like Cinnamon Toast Crunch to make new varieties of the product and seasonal lines for Halloween and Christmas. Stuffed Puffs now rival the Peeps and Mike & Ike and Hot Tamale candies of Just Born made just a few miles away as some of America’s best-known treats.
An ecosystem of other businesses that feed off the food and beverage industry has since developed in the Lehigh Valley. The region recently attracted a new testing facility operated by the international firm Deibel Laboratories, which performs food safety testing and food safety training for manufacturers.
From Follett, which makes ice containers and beverage dispensers, to Travaglini, which produces meat curing equipment, businesses from around the world have acquired the taste for the Lehigh Valley.
(Photos by Donna Fisher Photography)