U.S. Rice and Pasta Projects Reach Boiling Point

Like the water in which they're cooked, activity in the rice and pasta sectors of the U.S. is heating up. Industrial Info is tracking hundreds of millions of dollars worth of U.S. projects involving the production of these kitchen staples. The projects vary in size and type and cover a broad array of market regions.

Anybody who's ever been in a rush to get some food on the table knows that cooking rice in the traditional method can take upwards of 20 minutes. Riviana Foods Incorporated (Houston, Texas) is hoping to eliminate some of the pain of waiting with the expansion of its ready-to-serve rice product lines from its plant in Memphis, Tennessee.

A first phase of the project was just wrapped up in April. This entailed renovating approximately 20,000 square feet of the plant to double its production capacity of Minute brand ready-to-serve rice cups. While traditionalists and gourmands may disagree with the concept, Riviana's ready-to-serve segment was its fastest-growing business segment in 2023, with an increase of almost 19% in volume, according to the company.

The Memphis expansion doesn't end with the renovation, however. Earlier this year at the plant, Riviana launched construction of a 65,000-square-foot building addition that will introduce new production capacity for its ready-to-serve pouches of Tilda, Carolina and Mahatma brands of rice. General contractor Rose Construction Incorporated (Covington, Tennessee) is expected to wrap up the project early next year, with production of the new product lines expected to begin in the first quarter. Subscribers to Industrial Info's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Food & Beverage Project Database can click here for more details on the project.

Riviana also is considering expansion of its wild rice mill in Clearbrook, Minnesota. The plant currently mills 8 million tons per year of wild rice. An expansion that could start next year would add new square footage and milling equipment to bring production to more than 10 million tons per year. Subscribers can learn more by viewing the project report.

Arkansas produces more rice than any other U.S. state, with its 2023 rice production more than double of that of second-ranked California. With rice such an important part of the state's agricultural sector, it makes sense to capitalize on the latest technologies used in the rice-growing process. To this end, the University of Arkansas is constructing a rice research facility on 600 acres near Harrisburg, about 115 miles northeast of Little Rock and 55 miles from Memphis. The 27,000-square-foot facility will include labs, offices and storage space and is expected to be completed later this year. Subscribers can learn more by viewing the project report.

In 2017, Pasta Montana (Great Falls, Montana) expanded its pasta plant in Great Falls with a new line that boosted production from 55 million to 80 million pounds of pasta annually. The company is now ready to expand again, adding a new “short goods” production line. Short goods pastas include smaller, chunkier pasta shapes such as penne. Construction is expected to both begin and end this year. Subscribers can click here to learn more about the project.

Pasta Piccinini (Pasadena, California) is moving all operations from its California home to Newton, Tennessee, where the company has purchased a former plastics-recycling plant that it will renovate to food-grade standards for pasta production. The renovation is expected to begin soon and wrap up later this year. Subscribers can learn more by viewing the project report.

While perhaps not on every gourmand's mind, instant ramen noodles also feature in the country's pasta buildout. One of the largest of U.S. pasta projects is a grassroot plant for the producer of such low-price staples as Top Ramen and Cup Noodles. Nissin Foods Holdings (Tokyo, Japan) last year selected a site in Piedmont, South Carolina, for a new plant. The renovations of the existing 641,000-square-foot building are underway and expected to be completed next summer. The plant joins other U.S. Nissin locations in California and Pennsylvania and is intended to increase the range of the company's premium products such Cup Noodles Stir Fry and Hot & Spicy Fire Wok. Subscribers can click here to learn more details.

Subscribers to Industrial Info's GMI Food & Beverage Database can click here to view reports for all of the projects discussed in this article and click here for the related plant profiles.