Riviana Foods Blueprints $80M Processing Plant ExpansionRiviana Foods Blueprints $80M Processing Plant Expansion

Rice products supplier Riviana Foods Inc. announced plans Wednesday for a $80.6 million expansion project at its Memphis, TN processing and packaging facility to increase the location’s capacity for ready to serve cup and pouch products.

65,000 sq ft of space will be added to the structure’s footprint during construction and 20,000 sq ft of existing space will be renovated, a company release said. Pouches of ready-to-serve rice made at the plant is sold under the Tilda, Carolina, and Mahatma brands. The site also makes Minute rice microwaveable cups.

"We will be in a stronger position to meet or exceed customer needs of looking for simpler, better and more nutritional food options," Enrique Zaragoza, President and CEO of Riviana, said in a statement. "And, we look forward to many more years of our successful partnership between Riviana and the Memphis community with this investment."

The new production capacity is expected to come online in the first quarter of 2024. Riviana invested $15 million in the Memphis location in April 2021 to increase its capacity for instant rice.

An 11-year payment-in-lieu-of-taxes (PILOT) incentive as awarded by the Economic Development Growth Engine Industrial Development Board of the City of Memphis and County of Shelby, TN to support the expansion. 80 new full-time jobs are expected to be created as a result of the investment.