Rare Breed Distilling

RARE BREED DISTILLING

Overview

After Campari Group purchased Wild Turkey the decided to invest $100 MM in the Lawrenceburg, KY facility in order to bring all bottling and packaging in-house once again.

Project Highlights

Dennis Group was responsible for the design and construction of a grassroots bottling plant for Wild Turkey at its distillery in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky. The facility was designed to produce Skyy vodka, flavored vodkas, Wild Turkey bourbon, American Honey and various specialty bourbons and featured three high-speed bottling lines with room for a future fourth line.

The building was constructed on a very hilly site with an excess of 25 feet elevation difference in the original topography resulting in a massive cut and fill operation; a considerable amount of blasting was needed to remove ledge.

The project features an outdoor tank farm for incoming spirits, capable of holding up to 300,000 gallons of product, a 15,000 SF blending room with 400,000 gallons of blending and bottling tanks and a 40,000 SF bottling hall.

The upstairs office core was designed with a viewing mezzanine to allow Wild Turkey to conduct visitor tours of their operation and the facility has become an important stop on Kentucky’s Bourbon Trail.

Diageo

DIAGEO

Project Highlights

Dennis Group has a long-standing history working with Diageo in a variety of capacities. This project included:

- Miscellaneous interior renovations to the existing facility
- Raw material receipt – upgrade of existing rail car unloading and relocation of tanker truck unloading
- Raw material storage – addition of two 10,000 gallon storage tanks
- Vodka processing system – 32 gallons per minute, 11-charcoal tank filtration system, automatic batch blending system
- New gin and flavored vodka processing systems
- Finished spirits distribution system
- Water treatment (RO) system
- Compressed air system relocation and extension
- Utility support for upgraded bottling lines as well as a new bottling line

Taylor Farms

TAYLOR FARMS

Overview

Taylor Farm purchased a former jams and jellies plant, which in turn had to be converted into a high-grade USDA retail processing facility.

Project Highlights

The project included complete demolition of an existing facility with the exception of three exterior building walls, as well as construction of a state-of-the-art refrigerated facility for the production of prepared salads and cut vegetables.

This design-build project was completed on a fast-track schedule in less than 9 months in spite of challenging existing site conditions which included several adjacent properties that were located in close proximity.

Stonewall Kitchen

STONEWALL KITCHEN

Overview

What started as a jams and jellies line sold at farmers markets blossomed into more than 2,000 products for specialty food purveyor Stonewall Kitchen, who needed a new facility and corporate headquarters.

Project Highlights

This project involved development of an historically significant 8-acre greenfield site, as well as the fast-track development of a 50,000 SF facility for the processing and packaging of gourmet foods, a distribution center, corporate headquarters and a flagship retail store.

Major accomplishments of the project included the fact that site was challenged by wetlands restrictions, and is located in an historic district. The 50,000 SF facility had to be designed in such a way that it appears much smaller in scale than it actually is, and reminiscent of a New England family farm rather than an industrial production facility.

Kellogg’s

KELLOGG’S

Overview

Kellogg’s Ontario facility that produced the Mini-Wheats branded cereal made a $43 MM investment to add a new cereal production line that made use of advanced food manufacturing technologies.

Project Highlights

Dennis Group provided complete site, facility, and process design for this expansion project at the Belleville, Ontario, Canada facility. The project included the renovation of approximately 76,000 SF of existing building shell (fit up of slabs, UG plumbing, walls, etc) to facilitate the installation of a new 30MM pound/year DX cereal line.

Major accomplishments include going from KAR approval to saleable product in 11 months, all while working in an existing operating facility.

The project also required the removal and replacement of a 5,000 SF section of the existing buildings roof and replacement with a 100psf blast resistant roof to house the new mix room.

Sheetz

SHEETZ BROTHERS

Overview

Sheet Brothers developed a kitchen bakery, distribution center and warehouse on a 44-acre site to support their growing distribution fleet in the Southern region.

Project Highlights

Dennis Group provided complete site, facility and process design, procurement and installation services for this greenfield site.

A 44.64 acre site was developed for construction of a 246,000 SF processing facility to house 42,000 SF of production space, and equipment for the making of donuts, donut holes, breakfast sandwiches, cold sandwiches and wraps, parfait cups, and repackaging of mac-n-cheese from bulk to individual serving containers.

This project also encompassed an office building to support the 116,000 SF ambient distribution warehouse, 45,000 SF refrigerated warehouse and retail operations and an annex structure for fleet maintenance, vehicle washing, and fueling.

Pepperidge Farms

PEPPERIDGE FARMS

LEED New Construction v3 Certified

Overview

Dennis Group assisted in the design of the 34,000 SF Pepperidge Farms Innovation Center located at their headquarters in Norwalk, Connecticut. The new facility houses state-of-the-art labs, a pilot plant with product development and testing lines, a culinary kitchen, and meeting rooms dedicated to developing new products.

Project Highlights

Certified by the United States Green Building Council under the LEED New Construction v3 Rating System, the Innovation Center was designed as a high performance green building. The facility reduces environmental impact, creates a healthy environment for building occupants, and decreases long term operating costs.

Daylight and occupancy sensors are utilized to reduce energy consumption from artificial lighting. A high efficiency HVAC system relying on refrigerant flow for space conditioning, rather than airflow, and a VFD air compressor provide further energy savings. Overall, the building has 16% lower energy costs than facilities of similar size and purpose.

Through the use of low flush and flow fixtures, the Innovation Center consumes 30% less water than a typical facility. The project also increased occupant health and comfort by providing ventilation through a dedicated outdoor air energy recovery ventilator.

To further reduce environmental impact, strategies to reduce fossil fuel consumption were utilized. The project owner located the facility in an urban environment with public transportation access to reduce the energy impact of employee transportation to and from work. The facility also sourced 30% of construction materials from within 500 miles of site to reduce the impact of transporting the materials to site.

Heinz

HEINZ

Overview

HJ Heinz European Frozen and Chilled Foods invested $9 MM to establish a strategic headquarters in Dublin and expand its frozen ready-meals production facility.

Project Highlights

Dennis Group provided facility and process design-build services for the expansion of an Heinz’s existing facility located in Dundalk, Ireland. The facility design included renovation of 5,000 m2 of internal production space and the construction of 3,000 m2 of new food manufacturing and utility areas.

This project involved the installation of two high-speed fully automated frozen-ready meal production lines.

A state of the art sauce manufacturing system utilizing vacuum cooling and a flexible batch management and control system supported the production lines.

Additional process equipment included pasta blanching, high shear slurry blending, and potato and fish handling.

Installation of completely new utility systems and a wastewater treatment plant was also incorporated into the project.