Saddle Creek Corporation, a third-party logistics provider, has opened a new 150,000-square-foot distribution center at its Lakeland, Fla., campus for Riviana Foods Inc. and New World Pasta Company, the North American subsidiaries of Ebro Puleva, S.A., the leading Spanish food group.
At the new facility, Saddle Creek will provide warehousing and transportation services for New World Pasta and Riviana, giving Ebro Puleva the ability to consolidate inventories for Riviana and expand capacity for New World Pasta.
“Saddle Creek’s convenient location in central Florida, flexible campus environment and integrated logistics capabilities will allow us to serve our customers in the Southeast more efficiently and cost effectively and accommodate future growth,” said Joseph Marelli, vice president, logistics, for Ebro North America. “Their extensive food industry experience also weighed heavily in the decision-making process.”
The distribution center is part of a larger, 487,000-square-foot facility constructed to accommodate the needs of Riviana, New World Pasta and another Saddle Creek customer. This facility expands Saddle Creek’s Lakeland, Fla., campus to more than 2.3 million square feet.
“We’re pleased to provide Riviana and New World Pasta with an integrated logistics solution that meets their ambitious customer service goals as well as their tight timeline for start-up,” said Stephen Cook, vice president of marketing and business development at Saddle Creek. “We were able to build a new facility and begin operations within six months of our initial discussion.”
During the construction process, Saddle Creek provided an interim solution for New World Pasta from the 3PL’s Atlanta campus, ensuring both near-term and long-term solutions.
“Providing innovative and flexible single-source solutions for our customers is the key to our business model,” said Cook. “Our wide range of integrated service offerings and asset ownership allow our customers to increase efficiency, minimize risk and control costs.”
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About Saddle Creek Corp.
Saddle Creek Corp., headquartered in Lakeland, Fla., provides integrated warehousing, transportation, contract packaging and value-added services nationwide. For more information, visit www.saddlecrk.com.
About Riviana Foods Inc.
Riviana Foods Inc. (www.riviana.com), headquartered in Houston, Texas is one of the largest processors, marketers and distributors of branded and private label rice products in the United States. Its principal brands include Mahatma®, Carolina®, Minute®, Success® and Gourmet House®.
About New World Pasta Company
New World Pasta Company (www.nwpasta.com), headquartered in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, is a leading marketer and supplier of branded dry pasta and noodles in the United States and Canada, with leading national and regional brands like Ronzoni®, Healthy Harvest®, Smart Taste®, Creamette®, Catelli®, San Giorgio®, Prince®, Skinner®, American Beauty® and Light & Fluffy®.
About Ebro Puleva, S.A.
Ebro Puleva, S.A. (www.ebropuleva.com), headquartered in Madrid, Spain is the leading group in the Spanish food sector in terms of turnover, profit, market capitalization and international presence. It is the world’s leader in the rice sector, number two in the international pasta sector and number one in the Spanish dairy product market with leading brands in each of these sectors.