Shearer's chip plant in Waterford expands, to add 50 employees

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WATERFORD — It was September of 2021 when Ohio-based Shearer's Foods, owner of the former Troyer Farms chip plant, announced plans for a $27.5 million expansion project.

Now, 13 months later, the 100,000-square foot expansion is nearly complete and Shearer's is looking for the staff it needs to make more snacks.

Shearer's, which has about 180 employees at the Erie County plant, hopes to add another 50 by the time the new facility goes online in November, said Suzanne Weidle, human resources manager for the Waterford location.

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Crews at the facility — which makes kettle chips, popcorn and extruded snacks such as cheese puffs — are wrapping up work on a massive warehouse and the installation of new equipment for a fourth production line that will produce baked chips.

The project, which will expand the size of the facility by about 66%, won a $1.75 million grant from the state's Redevelopment Assistance Capital program and $135,000 in job-training credits.

Shearer's, which makes private-label snacks in Waterford, is continuing an Erie County snack food tradition that began in 1967 when the Troyer family built a potato chip plant on Route 97, just south of Waterford.

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The Troyer family sold the plant to Bickel's Snack Foods Inc. in 2008. Bickel's moved production out of Waterford to its York headquarters in 2011. Shearer's bought the plant in 2016.

Weidle said the plant, which operates 24 hours a day, needs to add employees to work all three shifts.

Shearer's, which had been paying a starting wage of $13 an hour, raised entry-level pay to $15.25 an hour in recognition of a challenging labor market, said Kathryn Hunter, the company's talent acquisition lead. A premium paid for afternoon and night shifts boosts pay to $16.75 for those hours.

"When you are talking about skilled labor, it goes up from there," Hunter said. "It's a plantwide expansion. We need to add all positions, both skilled and entry-level."

Hunter acknowledges that finding good employees can be difficult.

"It's challenging for everyone," she said. "We have had to position ourselves to be competitive in the market."

She said it's also important to share the company's message with a prospective workforce.

"We are a stable, growing company with 14 locations," she said.

Shearer's will hold a hiring event Monday. For more information, visit: shearers.com/careers.

Jim Martin can be reached at [email protected].