Submitted Photo Pictured are concord grape products that were entered in a statewide contest last year, including Good n’ Grapey pouches. Westfield Maid Cooperative is looking to make the pouches for schools.

WESTFIELD — A local grape cooperative is looking to invest millions of dollars to make juice pouches for children that could potentially double the amount of concord grapes needed from the region.

Robert Patterson and Andy Putnam with Westfield Maid Cooperative appeared before the Chautauqua County Legislature’s Planning and Economic Development Committee to talk about their proposed development.

Westfield Maid Cooperative has purchased the former DeHaven’s Westfield Dodge City motor vehicle dealership on Route 20 in the town of Westfield. It wants to turn that into a grape manufacturing plant that would make 4 ounce Good n’ Grapey juice pouches with 100% concord grape juice. The juice pouches would be distributed to schools through the Farm to School program, as well as to food banks.

According to Putnam, they’re looking to invest $4.2 million into the former vehicle dealership to turn it into a juice processing plant. “That means we’ll need to seal floors, walls, eliminate existing doors and windows. We’ll need to put in drains. … We’re going to need a new boiler. We’ll need a new refrigerated storage for concentrate to keep that on site. We’re going to need a QA (quality assurance) lab, offices, new restrooms, a loading dock, exterior improvements in landscaping, and a fence in order to make the facility what it needs to be,” he said.

The co-op plans to to install two lines of equipment, including two batch tanks, two pasteurization loops, and two automated packaging machines that will build the 4 ounce pouches.

Putnam said they hope to be at $28.3 million in revenue by year five and $51.7 million by year six, which would be about 8-15% market penetration.

Putnam said they hope to line up their funding by November and then take 12-18 months to renovate the facility.

Putnam noted that benefits to cooperative members include improved profit margins and “the ability to grow our concord grape farms, which has been quite a while since we’ve been able to do that.”

The plans call for 12 new positions. Putnam said eventually they want to hire 25-30 new employees at the plant, not counting the increase needed for grape farmers.

GRAPE POUCHES

Putnam said in 2019, they partnered with New York Juice Company, where they made 4 ounce juice cups for schools. That year they sold 1.9 million servings. The COVID-19 pandemic ended that production.

He believes this new pouch has a similar potential.

He said the goal is to get children drinking 100% concord grape juice.

The packaging, Putnam said, is key.

The pouch does not require a straw like other retail drinks, eliminating waste and the need to stab a straw into it, which some children can’t do.

In the past, when they used the cup, children would easily spill their drink when opening it. This pouch is made so children can tear the top off at the notches and the neck of the pouch becomes the straw. “If you tear that right at the notches and tip it over, it does not spill as much as a cup,” Putnam said.

He added that they are still testing the pouches with select schools across the state to ensure children are able to open them by themselves. “Initial signals are that children can open it. My grandchildren can open it and love it, so we’ll see what happens,” Putnam said.

Schools also like the pouches because they can be stored on a shelf up to year instead of placing them in a refrigerator or freezer. Usually juice at schools must be frozen to be stored and Putnam said when it’s defrosted, it loses some of its flavor.

They project making 5 million grape pouches the first year and up to 133 million pouches by their sixth year.

Other markets could include prisons, hospitals, colleges, and public cafeterias.

It would not be sold as a retail product.

In December, the Good n’ Grapey pouch won the Best New Concord Grape Beverage contest at the New York Concord Grape Innovation Awards.

GRAPE HARVESTING AND PRODUCTION

Right now, Putnam said Refresco Beverages in Dunkirk is doing their processing. Eventually they made do their own processing, but that’s much further down the road. Their current plans do not include processing. “The $4.2 million is just for the grape juice finishing plant to do that pouch,” he said.

Putnam said right now they have 57 member farms today in the Lake Erie concord grape region. Most of them are in New York, although some are located in Pennsylvania. They produce 140,000 tons of concord grapes annually. “This project, if we’re successful with 900 million servings a year, conservatively we will double that production,” he said.

Legislator Kevin Muldowney, R-Dunkirk, asked if that would be a problem.

Putnam responded, “That will be a challenge, no doubt about it. We’re going to need to see young people going into farming. We’re going to need to see farm supply businesses expand to support all of that and we’re going to need to make sure we have the right environmental impact as we grow more grapes on the plate.”

Putnam added they will work with other cooperatives to secure their concentrate juice for them if needed.

NEXT STEP

Westfield Maid Cooperative, Inc. is seeking $180,000 through the Community Development Block Economic Development Grant through the state Office of Community Renewal. In order to apply, they need the county’s assistance.

The full county legislature will vote on the application at its meeting Wednesday.