May 14, 2004 12:29 PM, from staff and wire reports

Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream Holdings Inc broke ground May 14 on a $100 million expansion project that will triple the capacity of its Bakersfield CA manufacturing facility and create 250 new jobs in spring 2005.

The Bakersfield Operations Center currently supports 450 ice cream makers and staff and churns out 90 types of frozen snacks,. The facility, which has been dedicated to frozen snacks, will add 400,000 square feet and five ice cream production lines.

Besides packaged ice cream production and office space, the expansion will include a new ice cream warehouse with a 20-door shipping dock, and new research and development facilities including a pilot plant for flavor development, labs, and prep kitchens.

Originally built as a Nestlé ice cream plant in 1988, the Bakersfield facility will be Dreyer's largest and most state-of-the-art operations center, with a total of 650,000 square feet and a manufacturing capacity of 70 million gallons when the expansion is complete, in addition to its current frozen snacks capacity of 98 million dozens.