Dot Foods Canada opens distribution centre in Ingersoll, Ont.

Ingersoll, Ont. – Dot Foods Canada Inc., a subsidiary of Dot Foods, Inc., officially opened its new distribution centre in Ingersoll, Ontario on Sept. 15. The $50-million Cdn, 168,875-square-foot facility includes offices and dry, refrigerated and frozen warehouse space.

Dot and its trucking affiliate, Dot Transportation Canada, Inc., employ 70 people at the Ingersoll facility, most in warehouse and truck driver roles. Company leaders say that number will grow to 200 in the next three to five years.

“This is an exciting day for our Ingersoll team and in the history of our company,” said Dot Foods CEO Dick Tracy. “There is a lot of opportunity for our distribution model in Canada. We built this facility because we’ve seen incredible growth in our Canadian business in the seven years since we established operations here. We need more physical space and a larger team to keep up with the demand.”

Construction on the majority of the building wrapped up this spring. Dot moved the first loads of dry product into the warehouse in May and began stocking refrigerated and frozen products in June. Because of the large growth potential Dot sees in Canada, the company decided to further increase the size of its frozen storage warehouse; shortly after breaking ground on construction in 2022 they started work on the first ‘expansion’ while the rest of the building was actively under construction. The freezer expansion is nearly complete, and it is currently being brought down to temperature.

As part of the grand opening celebration, Tracy announced a $50,000 charitable donation to be shared by six area nonprofit organizations.

Dot initially established operations in Canada in 2016 with the purchase of Canadian food redistributor Marketwest, and set up distribution centres in Calgary, Alta., and Brampton, Ont. Following the move to the Ingersoll facility, Dot ended operations at the leased Brampton location over the summer. The Ingersoll distribution centre features an L-shaped design, which gives Dot the ability to easily expand all warehouse and office spaces in future years, up to as much as 350,000 square feet. On-site garage facilities and a gate station to support the fleet will be added in the next two to three years.

Founded in 1960 and headquartered in Mt. Sterling, Illinois, Dot Foods is North America’s largest food industry redistributor, serving all 50 states and more than 55 countries with 125,000 items.