Shank’s $30M expanded manufacturing campus opens in Lancaster County

Universal Ingredients Shank’s manufacturing campus in Lancaster County, Pa., opened Sept. 4 following a $30 million expansion during a ribbon cutting ceremony attended by company representatives, state lawmakers, and government officials.

“Shank’s has a remarkable, 124-year history in Lancaster County and the Shapiro administration is proud to support the company’s continued growth here in Pennsylvania,” said State Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED) Secretary Rick Siger. “We are aggressively attracting new businesses to the commonwealth and are equally committed to retaining homegrown companies like Shank’s.

“These types of meaningful, strategic investments are helping to position Pennsylvania as an economic leader,” added Siger, who helped cut the ribbon on the company’s headquarters expansion in East Hempfield Township, Lancaster County.

A top producer of vanilla extract in the United States, Shank’s has been headquartered in Lancaster County since its creation in 1899 and makes and distributes more than 2,400 products, including flavors, emulsions, botanical extracts, colors, and sauces for retail and food industry customers globally. The company is owned by Universal Corp., a global business-to-business agriproducts company.

Shank’s $30 million expansion adds new state-of-the-art, beverage-focused extraction and aseptic processing technology to the existing campus, and increases the campus’ physical production capacity and service capabilities.

“We are excited to announce the opening of our enhanced Universal Ingredients Shank’s campus,” Universal Corp. Chairman, President, and CEO George C. Freeman, III, said Wednesday. “This will enable us to expand our product offerings to our customers, service additional markets, and provide us with beneficial operational efficiencies.”

Freeman noted that the campus expansion will allow the company to enhance its tea, coffee, and botanical extracts, as well as its customized blending capabilities through aseptic packaging.

“We would like to thank the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s [DCED] and Lancaster County for their support, which helped make this project possible,” he said.

Announced in May 2023 by Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and coordinated by the Governor’s Action Team, the Shank’s project received a funding proposal from DCED for a $332,000 Pennsylvania First grant and a $166,000 workforce development grant to train workers.

“We are excited to see food processing companies like Shank’s continue to invest in their Lancaster County operations,” said John Biemiller, vice president of business retention and expansion at the Economic Development Company of Lancaster County. “These commitments of company capital help keep Lancaster’s food manufacturing facilities on the cutting edge of food production in North America.”

The expansion project will create 83 new jobs and retain 234 jobs statewide. As part of the expansion, the Shank’s facility will support additional liquid and dry manufacturing, packaging and refrigerated storage.

“I am thrilled that Shank’s has chosen to expand and invest right here in Lancaster County,” said Republican State Sen. Ryan Aument. “When businesses come to our communities, our residents benefit from more job opportunities and increased local economic activity across numerous sectors, as the indirect impact of these investments on other industries is immeasurable.”

State Rep. Brett Miller (R-41) also congratulated the company on its milestone.

“Even though Shank’s has been operating in Lancaster County for more than a century, this expansion positions the company for an even brighter future with more innovation in food safety, more family-sustaining jobs, and more growth still to come,” Miller said.

Since taking office, the Shapiro administration has secured and announced nearly $2 billion in private-sector investments through the Governor’s Action Team and Pennsylvania Strategic Investments to Enhance Sites (PA SITES) investments.

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