LANHAM, MD.   — Baldor Specialty Foods, a distributor of premium fresh produce, specialty foods, dairy, meat and fish in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions, announced the opening of a new operation in the Washington, DC area on Sept. 17.

The company said the 100,000-square-foot warehouse is located in Lanham, Md., 12 miles from the DC metropolitan area and near major interstate highways.

The delivery areas for Baldor from the new warehouse include Baltimore, Annapolis and Richmond metropolitan areas. The company also expects to service Maryland and Delaware beaches and other regional stops near the campus.

The new facility includes 35 dock doors and state-of-the-art refrigeration and frozen storage capacities. The company said these facilities will help to scale its operations, increase delivery efficiency and continue sourcing fresh, local products.

At the time of the opening, the facility will have 140 employees with plans to hire many more including drivers and warehouse staff.

“Our commitment at Baldor is to our customers, our vendor partners, and our employees—everything we do needs to be a win for all three,” said TJ Murphy, chief executive officer and owner of Baldor Specialty Foods. “As our business has rapidly expanded in the Washington, DC, area, we knew we needed a facility that could match the pace of our growth and support our commitment to getting our customers the best products as efficiently as possible. At the same time, we wanted to maximize product sales for our vendors, and bring on more local farmers and producers, while also increasing career and salary opportunities for our employees. With this move, we believe we have hit the trifecta.”

Baldor plans for the Lanham facility to serve as a fourth hub for its business. The company already uses regional hubs at its company headquarters in the Bronx, NY, along with Boston, Mass., and Philadelphia, Pa.

First operations for Baldor in the DC area started in 2012 with a small cross-dock facility in Jessup, Md. As demand grew, the facility ultimately served 1,000 of Baldor’s 14,000-plus customers.

Baldor started plans for the Lanham warehouse in Nov. 2022. The company said the full warehouse is eight times the size of the former cross-dock facility. The Lanham facility will make 7,000 products available to customers.