food
FOOD PROCESSING
Kingston’s food and beverage sector thrives on a strategic crossroads: 25 million consumers live within an eight-hour drive, and the region sits amid fertile farmland, specialty machine shops and a deep pool of skilled labour.
Over the past five years, foreign direct investment in Kingston’s agri-food industry has topped $400 million, a testament to the confidence international companies place in our infrastructure and workforce.
Frulact’s recent expansion in Kingston underscores the city’s appeal as a hub for high-value food processing, while Canada Royal Milk—Canada’s sole infant formula producer—anchors national food security by supplying essential nutrition to families coast-to-coast. Alongside these leaders, Kingston hosts Sensient Technologies and Calico Food Ingredients in food colour and additive development, breweries crafting local flavours, biotechnology innovator Performance Plants Inc., custom equipment builder Pure Ingenuity Ltd., and major distributors such as Tim Hortons Distribution, Coca-Cola Bottling Ltd., Pepsico and Findlay Foods.
Kingston’s specialty machine shops are capable of designing and building fully integrated production lines for the agri-food industry. Pure Ingenuity Ltd. exemplifies this expertise, delivering large-scale processing equipment—including stainless steel tanks, vessels and pressure systems—that meet stringent FDA, 3A, HACCP and cGMP regulations. Their engineering team solves complex manufacturing challenges, allowing food and beverage companies to maintain autonomy over production while ensuring compliance and efficiency.
On the research front, Performance Plants Inc. advances gene discovery and trait-development technologies, partnering with global players like Bayer CropScience, RiceTex, DBN and Biocentury Transgene Mahyco. Their work accelerates ethical farming practices worldwide by boosting crop yields without compromising environmental or consumer safety.
Calico Food Ingredients formulates, sources and delivers specialty ingredients that preserve both nutritional integrity and visual appeal, with a focus on natural colours for food, beverages and supplements. Sensient Technologies, which traces its roots to the 1882 Meadow Springs Distillery, supplies the global market with premium food-based colours, flavours and fragrances.
Logistics and distribution are equally robust. Kingston is home to wholesale centers such as Tim Hortons Distribution, W.R. McCrae, Findlay Foods, Coca-Cola Bottling Ltd. and Tony Deodato & Sons Ltd., all driving job creation and B2B commerce.
Performance Plants is an established company that researches gene discovery, trait development technologies and is involved in the commercialization of these capabilities. Their work with Bayer CropScience, RiceTex, DBN, and Biocentury Transgene Mahyco opens up their services for global markets to increase high-yield but ethical farming technology.
Calico Food Ingredients is an application-specific company that formulates, sources, and delivers specialty ingredients that still retain nutrition and aesthetic values. Calico focuses on natural colours in food products, beverages and nutritional supplements. Similarly, Sensiet Technologies is a global manufacturer of food-based colours, flavours and fragrances that sprung out of the Meadow Springs Distillery that originally opened in 1882.
There are many high-quality wholesale food and beverage distribution centers located in Kingston: TDL (Tim Hortons) Distribution, W.R. McCrae, Findlay Foods, Coca-Cola Bottling Ltd., Tony Deodato & Sons Ltd. Each contributes to the growth of jobs and business to business transaction opportunities in this region.
Pure Ingenuity is an engineering-based company that specializes in large and industry-specific equipment for a variety of industries, their largest being the food and beverage industry. Pure Ingenuity’s staff of highly-trained engineers solve manufacturing problems and allow businesses to retain autonomy in the production of their products. Pure Ingenuity specializes in engineering services, precision fabrication, and installation and service for the pharmaceutical industry, food, beverage and dairy industry, cosmetics and fine chemicals, public art and architecture, and brewery solutions. Additionally, Kingston is home to Allcan, a first class 3PL warehousing and distribution services provider with second to none WMS capability and Global Food Safety Initiative certification.
“Everyone knows your first name, a family friendly environment”
COMPANIES THAT CALL KINGSTON HOME
R&D HIGHLIGHTS
Queen’s University, Gastrointestinal Diseases Research Unit (GIDRU) is a diverse multidisciplinary group, drawing its clinical membership from the Departments of Medicine, Surgery and Pathology, and basic science faculty from the Departments of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Biochemistry, Biology, Microbiology and Immunology, and Physiology.
CCIC has a 20,000 SF facility in Kingston with Chemical and Biological testing equipment. Certificates issued by CCIC Canada are widely accepted by inspection authorities around the world, which facilitates the customs clearance procedure, saving time and costs for clients.
Contact Abdul Razak Jendi
Investment Manager,
Sustainable Manufacturing
613-544-2725 x 7242
Cell: 613-532-4858
jendi@investkingston.ca
