WHITE PLAINS, NEW YORK, U.S. — General Mills, Inc. has received $500,000 from the New York Power Authority (NYPA) Board of Trustees. The funds are to be used to purchase new cereal processing and packaging equipment and to upgrade ingredient unloading systems, large packaging and material handling systems, and employee skills at the company’s facility in Buffalo, New York, U.S.
The Buffalo plant is General Mills’ oldest in the United States, acquired by the company in 1928 following its purchase from Washburn-Crosby Milling Co. The funds will allow the company to shift production of Rice and Wheat Chex to the plant, which already makes Cheerios, Kix, Total, Lucky Charms and Wheaties.
The NYPA currently supports Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.-based General Mills with 5,100 kilowatts of low-cost hydropower and a 500-kW ReCharge NY allocation in exchange for retaining 400 jobs. Empire State Development also is supporting General Mills with a $500,000 tax credit.
The funds from both the NYPA and Empire State Development are part of a $25 million makeover that General Mills is considering for the Buffalo plant.
According to Sosland Publishing’s 2016 Grain and Milling Annual, the Buffalo facility has a wheat flour milling capacity of 16,500 cwts and 4 million bushels of storage. General Mills has five U.S. wheat flour mills with a total capacity of 77,500 cwts.
