ST. HYACINTHE, Quebec – Olymel L.P., a leading producer of pork and poultry products in Canada, announced plans to spend C$10 million ($7.7 million) to add 15,000 sq. ft. to the company’s poultry processing facility at St. Damase.

Plant upgrades will include a new air chilling room and additional production capacity. The company intends to supply the rotisserie sector and the retail distribution sector. Construction on the expansion starts May 15. Once complete, the plant will cover more than 95,000 sq. ft.

Olymel is “intensifying its initiatives” to add value to the company’s Olymel and Flamingo brands. Facility expansions and upgrades also have enabled the company to increase its production capacity, putting the company in a better position to serve private labels.

“This major investment in our St. Damase plant reflects the dynamism of the poultry sector,” CEO Réjean Nadeau said in a statement. “Olymel will soon be announcing another major investment at its Brampton, Ontario, poultry further processing facility.

“Our company is equipping itself to better meet demand from its customers by boosting its production capacity, which also benefits the entire poultry sector in Quebec,” Nadeau added. “In terms of volume, thanks to its network of facilities and its business partnerships, Olymel is now the number one poultry processing company in Canada. This new investment in St. Damase and projects elsewhere in the poultry sector, both completed and planned, will also help to consolidate our presence on the markets, while generating important spinoffs for poultry producers.”

The expansion of the St. Damase facility follows another C$10 million investment Olymel made in the company’s poultry further-processing plant in St. Rosalie- Montérégie, in 2015. Upgrades at the facility included a third cooking line which increased the volume of cooked chicken products manufactured at the plant by 40 percent.