A Chinese frozen food company, Zhenzhou, Henan-headquartered Synear Food Holdings Ltd, has reportedly acquired the former Nestlé USA Hot Pockets factory in Chatsworth, California. The 189,170-square-foot plant has been idle since last autumn, when Nestlé shut it down to consolidate production of hand-held sandwiches at a facility in Sterling, Kentucky.
While the price paid for the factory was not disclosed, it had been listed for sale at $15.9 million, according to CoStar Group, Inc, a commercial real estate information provider. Nestlé paid $9.7 million for the plant in 2002 when acquiring Hot Pockets from Chef America Inc.
Will Synear Food Holdings soon be producing Zongzi treats at the former Hot Pockets factory in California? The sticky glutinous rice dumpling triangles are stuffed with various fillings such as meat and chestnuts wrapped in bamboo leaves. Synear Food Holdings, which has a 30% share of China’s frozen food market, was established in 1997. It is expected to produce meat- vegetable-filled dumplings (pot stickers, or jiaozi) and other popular Chinese cuisine items for the USA market at the California facility, which is situated on a seven-acre property in the northwestern San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles.
In China, Synear manufactures a wide assortment of frozen food products ranging from savory and sweet dumplings to specialty desserts and sancks at factories in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, and Huzhou, Zhejiang Province. While primarily distributed to supermarkets and other retail outlets under the proprietary Synear brand name, it also supplies quick service restaurant chains including KFC.
The firm operates through numerous subsidiaries in the PRC, among them Art Advanced Group Limited, Zhengzhou Synear, Quick Surplus Limited, Kingpo International Limited, Sanway Holdings Limited, Guangzhou Nanguo Synear, Huzhou Synear, Sichuan Synear and Zhengzhou Qianweiyangchu.
