7-Eleven, Speedway Supplier Plans New Ohio Processing Plant

April 18, 2023

Japanese company Warabeya Nichiyo Holdings’ new facility will produce bread and light meals for approximately 2,500 Midwest stores.

Andy Hanacek

Japanese ready-to-eat foods processor Warabeya Nichiyo Holdings Co. Ltd. announced plans to expand its production capacity in the U.S. by building a new plant in Ohio to supply 7-Eleven and Speedway customers in the Midwest, according to a release from the company. The new facility will become part of Warabeya North America Inc., renamed from Warabeya Texas effective April 1, 2023.

The Ohio plant will be the third facility in the continental U.S. for the company (a separate U.S. subsidiary operates in Hawaii), with a new plant in Virginia currently under construction and expected to open later this year. Warabeya’s Texas facility — its first in the mainland U.S. — opened in 2017.

Warabeya expects to invest $81.5 million to build the 140,000-square-foot facility, which will produce bread and light meals for customers. It is anticipated that the plant will begin operation in December 2024.

About the Author

Andy Hanacek | Senior Editor

Andy Hanacek has covered meat, poultry, bakery and snack foods as a B2B editor for nearly 20 years, and has toured hundreds of processing plants and food companies, sharing stories of innovation and technological advancement throughout the food supply chain. In 2018, he won a Folio:Eddie Award for his unique "From the Editor's Desk" video blogs, and he has brought home additional awards from Folio and ASBPE over the years. In addition, Hanacek led the Meat Industry Hall of Fame for several years and was vice president of communications for We R Food Safety, a food safety software and consulting company.