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Red Gold moving headquarters to Elwood

 IBJ Staff
June 22, 2011
Keywords
Food manufacturers, Headquarters Relocations, Madison County, Manufacturing & Technology, Regional News
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Red Gold Inc. is growing more than tomatoes in Madison County.

The Orestes-based company—the nation’s second-largest tomato canner—on Tuesday announced plans to invest $3.5 million to convert a former Elwood elementary school into a new corporate headquarters.

When the project is complete within the next 12 months, the office will accommodate about 200 professional employees.

Since 2001, Red Gold has nearly doubled its staff to more than 1,300 workers at production and distribution facilities in Elwood, Orestes and Geneva. The company spent more than $20 million last year to expand its operations.

Projects included a major upgrade of the Orestes plant, with a new high-speed canned tomato line and additional equipment to increase output. Red Gold’s Elwood plant, meanwhile, is getting additional production and packaging equipment, including a state-of-the-art ketchup bottling line that is expected to be ready for production in mid-August.
 
In addition to canned tomatoes, Red Gold produces ketchup, tomato juice and pasta sauces for its consumer brands Red Gold, Redpack, Tuttorosso and Sacramento.

 

 


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  • Good people, good products, good company
    JimJune 22, 2011 2:29 PM
    I have known many people who worked at Red Gold, at least one in corporate, one of the owners who worked for GM at one point in time in the 1970's (and yes, he was from Elwood, hence the PO Box in Elwood for company mail...they have expanded and grown exponentially since then), and several people who have worked in the plant, on Maintenance, etc. They did not pay GM level wages to the general workforce, but they paid well above the minimum...the working conditions, as canning operations go, are good, and their products are excellent...they make so many products for other companies that there is no one reading this article that hasn't eaten a Red Gold product if you eat anything made with tomatoes, whether you have ever bought the actual Red Gold brand or not. I have not heard anyone who works for them, past or present, bad mouth the company, to a person they have all been complimentary...Michelle has an axe to grind apparently...why would anyone complain about a local, successful company expanding in this economy...how could purchasing and renovating an abandoned school building in the companies' home community for much needed office space be a bad thing? Slight of hand?...methinks Michelle sees conspiracy because that is what she wants to see. Red Gold is one of the best things going in Madison County. My hats of to them for making the best of things in an economy where many businesses have failed.
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  • šÂÂ
    ThomasJune 22, 2011 2:03 PM
    I couldn't agree more that ’ and ’ are important to the ’ of Red Gold. I can only hope that in the future ’ and things like ’ are taken into consideration when future expansions occur.
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  • YOU ARE WRONG
    Karen FrawleyJune 22, 2011 2:03 PM
    Michelle,

    You need to get your stories straight before you start bad mouthing a company that has been in our communtiy for years and is there for out community. I too used to work at Red Gold and they are a good company to work for. This move is going to be great for Elwood.
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  • Corporate Office Clarification
    Steve AustinJune 22, 2011 12:33 PM
    In response to Ms. Jackman’s confusion about where Red Gold’s corporate offices are located, I will share brief facts about our company history. Red Gold’s first canning operation was and is located in the town of Orestes, six miles east of Elwood and one mile west of Alexandria. Our corporate office, next to the Orestes production factory, is still at that site today and it has been since 1942.

    Confusion about Red Gold being headquartered in Elwood arises from the fact that our owners lived in the City of Elwood, therefore chose their home town post office as the place to receive their company mail. Red Gold’s can labels carry the address of PO Box 83, Elwood, Indiana so it is easy for one to assume that Red Gold is headquartered in Elwood.

    In 1980, Red Gold purchased Fettig Canning in Elwood and a small trucking company that was part of Fettig. Red Gold changed the name of those two operations to reflect Red Gold ownership and for the first time Red Gold had physical locations in Elwood.

    Red Gold has grown immensely since the 1980’s adding a Distribution Center on State Road 28, one mile west of Alexandria and a third production facility in the Town of Geneva, Indiana plus a warehouse in Portland, Indiana.

    Growth is requiring Red Gold to expand the size of its corporate offices and a shuttered elementary school building in Elwood is an excellent opportunity for Red Gold to acquire much needed office space, thus for the first time Red Gold’s physical managerial location will match its historical postal and assumed image address.
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  • Excited for the New Corporate HQ in Elwood
    AngieJune 22, 2011 11:38 AM
    Red Gold Corporate Employees are looking forward to the new Corporate Headquarters in Elwood. Tina is correct, the Corporate Office for Red Gold has never been located in Elwood. We are excited for the opportunity to grow the staff of the Corporate Office and stimulate the Elwood Community.
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  • Corporate is in Orestes - NOT Elwood
    TinaJune 22, 2011 10:58 AM
    Red Gold Corporate HQ have never been in Elwood. Elwood is one of three production facilities that "yes" has an HR department for the local employees. This is a huge deal, not a smoke screen - just ask the employees who are crammed at the Corporate office what a big deal this is!
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  • Always was in Elwood
    Michelle JackmanJune 22, 2011 8:12 AM
    I used to work at Red Gold and they had a huge distribution center at Orestes but the majority of items were produced at Elwood. They had their HR office in Elwood. I don't know why they are saying that they are moving the operations to a place they already had them at??? Ok they might be expanding there but they have always been there! Just like them to do things ass backwards! Makes me wonder why they are throwing such a smoke screen. They weren't the best of places to work so makes me suspicious of their motives....
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    1. City-County Councilor Angela Mansfield and Bob Lutz have a case of wishful thinking.

      They obviously don't really care about the cost.

      They should.

      Extending Federal Benefits to Same-Sex Couples Will Cost $898M, CBO Says

      http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/12/22/extending-federal-benefits-sex-couples-cost-m-cbo-says/

    2. Brett, be careful what you lie about, the truth always comes out.

      "IMS's George Honored: Tony George, Indianapolis Motor Speedway president and chief executive officer, received the inaugural Pioneering and Innovation Award at the Autosport Awards Dec. 5 in London for his leadership in the development of the Steel and Foam Energy Reduction (SAFER) Barrier. George received the award at the annual gala at the Grosvenor House on behalf of the creators of the SAFER Barrier from Prince Salman Bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the leader of the Bahrain International Grand Prix circuit. This is the fourth major award that has been presented to honor George and the SAFER Barrier development team. The SAFER Barrier also received the Louis Schwitzer Award, SEMA Motorsports Engineering Award and GM Racing Pioneer Award in 2002. The SAFER Barrier was installed in all four turns of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway a pioneer in safety for drivers, cars and tracks -- in time for the 86th Indianapolis 500 in 2002. It since has been installed at more than a dozen other tracks, and the latest iteration will be installed at the Speedway in the spring.(IMS PR), see more on my Indy Track News page.(12-7-2004)"

      As far as the cart safety team, I cannot find anything on its date of creation. The Delphi Safety team was created in 1996. For some reason there is not much info out there on defunct racing series.

    3. Great article Anthony. Glad IMS is finally being run like a business and not a personal check book to finance the "Vision".

      Things are looking up but 15 years of scorched earth won't be fixed overnight. Unfortunately the TV ratings are still poor and that won't change anytime soon with the brilliant 10 year contract signed under the former regime.

    4. Brett not sure why you wonder what he said in his quote. "''I would like to jump in a time machine, go back to 1995, and tell the owners and Tony George not to split,'' Franchitti said. ''As soon as my time machine is done, I know where I'm going.''"

      Pretty clear, he would love to go back and tell TG and the team owners not to split.

      I am not sure there is anyone who wanted the split, and I don't think there is anyone who would not like to go back and prevent the split. But, as has been discussed ad nauseum, without the split carts management by team owners would have run all of ow racing into bankruptcy. If cart had such a wonderful product, then losing IMS would not have forced it into bankruptcy. If NASCAR lost Daytona or Charlotte, it would not fail like cart did.

      Truth,

      So you predicted that cart would go into bankruptcy and cease to exist while Indycar would continue on? I missed that prediction.

    5. I want to live in a city that has a garage structure to be proud of for it's innovating design!

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