BIX Produce Food Processing

BIX Produce Company is a leader in specialty produce processing and distribution, serving Upper Midwest schools, healthcare facilities and corporations. Having outgrown their location, they found a new site nearby with three large buildings. Knowing our substantial experience with cold storage facilities, BIX tapped us for the multifaceted renovation.

While the buildings had the necessary capacity, they had zero refrigeration, making this project complex from the start. To complicate matters, the schedule was aggressive, since BIX needed to move and get systems running smoothly before the new school year. To save time and money, we deployed our innovative “box-in a-box” method—constructing a new building inside of the existing building. We amplified multiple spaces at different temperatures for office, loading and processing areas. We studied the MEP requirements of each piece of their existing equipment, to plan its relocation and developed multiple plans for how they could configure storage racks. To manage the process, we used a design-build approach, with demolition and construction happening simultaneously at different ends of the buildings.

Despite the hectic pace, we met the June closeout date while maintaining quality. BIX is enjoying their high-performance facility with triple the space, bringing new jobs to their community and fresh-cut produce to their expanding list of customers.