WATERFORD — The Troyer family’s plans for an organic frozen french fry company now has a name.
The family, one of the state’s largest potato growers and the owner of Troyer Farms snack food company from 1967 to 2008, has dubbed its new venture Folkland Foods.
More importantly, they now have funding to complete construction on a new $7 million production facility that could be up and running by January.
Gov. Josh Shapiro and state Secretary of Agriculture Russell Redding were in Waterford Township Wednesday afternoon to announce a $3 million grant through the state’s Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program often called RACP. The grant will help pay for an 8,100-square-foot addition and new equipment as well as a 3,600-square-foot addition for a freezer warehouse and a 16,000-square-foot potato warehouse.
Shapiro, who sampled some fries, toured a potato storage facility and checked out a high-speed potato sorting machine, said he was impressed by the company, now led by brothers Colton and Zachary Troyer, who are members of the farm’s fourth generation.