Accelerate your Start Up Company in Buffalo Niagara

Canadian-headquartered Pride Pak processes fresh vegetables, making ready-made salads in a bag and chopped vegetables. The company also sources raw vegetables from both the US and Canada. Pride Pak was started in 1984 and has their main office in Mississauga with another facility in New Foundland. They currently employ over 200 people and sell to grocery retailers and into the restaurant industry.

With growing sales in the US, Steven Karr, CEO sought a new facility across the border to grow his business. In 2014, Pride Pak reached out to multiple regions within New York State to locate their new facility.

Prompt Logistics is a Canadian-headquartered family logistics business with additional operations in New Jersey, focused on freight brokerage and logistics services. The company employs between 15 and 20 employees between those locations. In 2017 Prompt Logistics began to explore the opportunity to establish a third-party warehouse operation in the U.S. in addition to its New Jersey operations. Buffalo Niagara was very appealing for this operation because of its location near the U.S.-Canadian border, as this third-party warehouse would ideally offer brokerage services as well.

Niagara Food Specialties (NFS), incorporated in 2001, is a food processor, distributor and wholesaler, specializing in the production of prosciutto ham for the foodservice (restaurants & hotels) industry and gourmet retail markets. NFS adds value to raw pork, producing artisanal quality charcuterie, including prosciutto, capicola, pancetta, salami, guanciale, and sausage. This family operated business is currently headquartered in Niagara Falls, ON. NFS began to investigate US expansion when they faced with growth limitations due to border crossing restrictions and rules on imported meats to the US.

Norampac is the largest containerboard producer in Canada and the 8th largest in North America. The company is also a major manufacturer of corrugated products. In 2008, Invest Buffalo Niagara and Norampac representatives discussed the company’s desire to build a new facility that would construct new corrugated box products from recycled fibers. With 43 operating units throughout the world the company could have sited this project anywhere.

In August 2020, MedBio – a company headquartered in Michigan – acquired Polymer Conversions, a plastic injection molder operating in Buffalo Niagara. The company was specializing in highly technical medical devices and components with 125 employees. Polymer Conversions (now operating as MedBio Orchard Park, spoiler alert!) needed to expand its footprint and was considering doing so in either Western New York or Michigan.

Incentives: NYPA – Hydropower Allocation, Empire State Development Excelsior Jobs Program, Erie County IDA sales tax abatement

Microart, a company out of Markham, Ontario, manufactures circuit boards used in the aerospace, medical device and electronics industries. The company has a growth mindset, which has allowed the Canadian headquarters to grow to 279 employees and helped drive the need for a U.S. expansion. Acquiring a U.S. company was Microart’s preferred way to start their U.S. operations and they identified a company in Buffalo that was well suited to their operations and needs.