Business & Tech

Food Processing Company Moves To Niles, Gets Juiced Up

Greenwood Associates. which sells fruit juice concentrates nationally, will manufacture for the first time in new 60,000 square foot facility.

On your next visit to the grocery store, you’ll likely see sauces, marinades and salad dressings that contain ingredients supplied by Greenwood Associates.

The food processing company, which is expanding, located its offices in Niles in May and is working to open its manufacturing facility sometime in the third quarter, said Ron Kaplan, president. Village of Niles officials said they’re happy to have the company, which will add to the tax base.

Earlier:  

Interested in local real estate?Subscribe to Patch's new newsletter to be the first to know about open houses, new listings and more.

“My father Leonard Kaplan started the company in 1974,” Kaplan said. “This factory is the first time we’re doing our own manufacturing, shipping and receiving. We’ve grown the business to the point we can do it.”

After his father passed on, Kaplan and his stepbrother Michael Gard  bought the company from his father’s estate, Kaplan said.

Interested in local real estate?Subscribe to Patch's new newsletter to be the first to know about open houses, new listings and more.

Greenwood Associates makes fruit juice concentrates,  purees and essential oils.

“We’re mainly an ingredient supplier,” Kaplan explained.  “Some (company) will say they want to make a salad dressing or sauce or marinade—for example, raspberry dressing. They can come to us and source the product.”

To accomplish that mission, the company employs 17 people in its 60,000 square foot facility. It will bump that up to 18 to 20 employees when it opens the rest of the manufacturing portion.

It sells to food processors and manufacturers all over the county, and Kaplan said the Chicago-area location works well because he can usually get his customers on the East and West coasts a shipment within a day or two.

Kaplan said he’s pleased with the way the village of Niles has worked with his company.

“They’re supportive and helpful. From the planning to the inspectors, they’ve been a breeze to work with,” he said. “Everybody’s been so  nice to us. It’s been great.”

Although the site does not actually have frontage on Howard Street and sits north of another business, Charles Ostman, director of Niles' Community Development department, said the site is able to use an easement so that vehicles can reach the Greenwood Associates property. 

Denise McCreery, the village's business coordinator, pointed out that gaining a new business in town brings concrete benefits, such as filling a vacant space, gaining property tax revenue and creating new employee pools to dine and shop in Niles.

"But I personally am gratified when a manufacturer moves into our town," she added. "There is something really great about being able to create something and keeping that process in the United States."


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here