Manatee canning company reaches capacity

PALMETTO — An 86-year-old private-label food packaging service company, Palmetto Canning Co. Inc., is growing. It plans to expand its 35,000-square-foot facility at 3601 U.S. 41, Palmetto by an additional 10,000 square feet. The extra space will be used for storing the company's condiments and jellies and its packages for other brands, including Goya.

Palmetto Canning has operated from the Palmetto location since 1945.

“Inexpensive outbound freight costs to the Northeast and Midwest, combined with an ample labor pool, allow us to continue growing our footprint in the Bradenton Area, where the company was born,” Jonathan Greenlaw, president of Palmetto Canning Co., says in a news release. “Our private-label food business is growing, and we need to store more supplies and finished product on our Palmetto campus.”

Palmetto Canning currently transports finished private-label products to leased warehouse space in Lakeland. The company also has a 52,000-square-foot facility in Seffner that is near capacity.

Although the name of the business suggests its canning origins, today the company packages products in glass and plastic. It produces 10 million bottles a year in the Palmetto and Seffner locations.

The Bradenton Area Economic Development Corp. helped the company in successfully applying for Manatee County Government's rapid response permitting program.