The latest advancement in Lehigh Valley’s thriving food and beverage manufacturing sector made headlines in several industry publications. 
The news that Bazzini, America’s oldest nut company that makes nut, fruit, and chocolate confections, has leased the former Stuffed Puffs factory appeared in publications including Food Processing, Food Manufacturing, and Expansion Solutions Magazine.
Bazzini was founded in New York City in 1886 and has provided peanuts to Yankee Stadium since 1923. It moved its headquarters and main manufacturing operations to the Lehigh Valley in 2011, in Upper Macungie Township.
The former Stuffed Puffs facility in Hanover Township, Northampton County, is 150,000 square feet and showcases state-of-the-art manufacturing capabilities. It took developer J.G. Petrucci Co., Inc. less than six months to fill the building. The Lehigh Valley is among the nation’s busiest industrial markets. Site Selection magazine ranked the Lehigh Valley the No. 1 mid-sized market for the number of economic development projects completed in 2023.
Lehigh Valley is a top 15% manufacturing market, with more than 700 producers generating a collective output of $9 billion. Manufacturing makes up 16% of the region’s record $55.7 billion Gross Domestic Product. Nationally, manufacturing makes up 12% of GDP.
Food and beverage manufacturing in the Lehigh Valley is one of the sectors targeted for growth by Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corporation. In the past decade, the number of people working in food and beverage production has grown by 45.5% in the region, compared to 33.6% nationally.
Among the nearly 90 food and beverage manufacturers operating in the Lehigh Valley are well-known brands such as Ocean Spray, Coca-Cola, Just Born, Bakerly/Norac, Bimbo Bakeries, Boston Beer Co., and Freshpet.
Access to agricultural areas, abundance of fresh water and natural resources, and proximity to major East Coast population centers have long made Lehigh Valley an ideal location for food and beverage companies. The region’s expanding cold storage facilities are an asset for last-mile distribution.
This is the second time in recent weeks that Lehigh Valley’s economy has made headlines across trade publications. Nearly a dozen articles appeared in technology publications about how expansion plans by Infinera and Coherent are growing Lehigh Valley’s history of technological innovation.