Maple Leaf Foods consolidates plants ahead of London opening

Maple Leaf Foods announces changes to its network of Ontario poultry processing plants prior to the opening of its London plant

Photo: A rendering of the London plant at 1577 Wilton Grove Road

AHEAD OF THE expected completion of its new London processing plant in late 2022, Maple Leaf Foods Inc. announced on Thursday it is pursuing “optimization opportunities” in its poultry network.

Specifically, the company will be shifting volumes currently processed at the Maple Leaf Foods’ poultry plants in Schomberg and Bradford to the new London plant by the end of 2023 in connection with the ramp up of London to full production.

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The two plants will continue to operate as normal for the next 18 months until the transition. Once the transition is completed, the Bradford plant will continue to operate with a new focus on value-added opportunities and the Schomberg plant will be shut down. 

According to a released statement from Mississauga-based Maple Leaf, the company will work to identify opportunities at other plants within the Maple Leaf network for impacted employees at the Schomberg plant.

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Construction on new $660-million, 640,000-square-foot London plant, located at 1577 Wilton Grove Road, began in 2019. The plant, which is expected to employ well over 1,000 workers, will process between 75 million and 100 million chickens annually.

The company expects the London facility to start to deliver approximately $100 million annually of additional adjusted EBITDA once fully ramped up by the end of 2023.