(Danville, VA) Virginia Governor Ralph Northram announced Thursday the acquisition and expansions plans for the Sky Valley Foods Plant in Danville by Idaho based Litehouse Inc.  The company which is a leader in refrigerated salad dressings, dips, cheese, freeze dried herbs, and other innovative consumer packaged goods, will invest $46 million to acquire and expand Sky Valley Foods and establish its first East Coast production facility in the City of Danville.

This acquisition will not only keep the current staff from Sky Valley in place it will also create up to 160 jobs over the next five years according to the company.  Danville competed with sites in Utah and South Carolina to secure the companies 6^th manufacturing facility.  Governor Northram said of the expansion, “Litehouse’s decision to take root in the City of Danville and establish its first East Coast production facility is another great example of how Southern Virginia’s industry-responsive training programs and highly skilled workforce create an ideal environment for manufacturers to thrive.  This flourishing company sets the bar for corporate responsibility in its industry, and we look forward to many years of shared prosperity for Litehouse, its dedicated owners-employees, and the Commonwealth.”

Danville Mayor Alonzo Jones also had nothing but good things to say about this opportunity, “Strategically, we have wanted to build a food processing base in Danville because of the unused capacity that Danville Utilities has in water and wastewater infrastructure. With Litehouse joining Nestle in Airside Industrial Park, we now have two leaders in the food industry.”

 

The Virginia Economic Development Partnership worked with the City of Danville to secure the project for Virginia. Governor Northam approved a $600,000 grant from the Commonwealth’s Opportunity Fund to assist the City of Danville with the project. The Virginia Tobacco Region Revitalization Commission has approved a grant in the amount of $340,000 and a loan in the amount of $220,000, both from the Tobacco Region Opportunity Fund, for the project.