Sabra Dipping Co. opened the doors to its newly expanded hummus production facility in Chesterfield, Va. With the 118,000-square-foot expansion, Sabra expects to add an additional 70 jobs to the Chesterfield County location next year. Sabra first announced plans for the expansion last spring, with the opening of its Center of Excellence research and development facility.

“Sabra first opened its Virginia facility in 2010, and today marks our second expansion since,” says new company CEO Shali Shalit-Shoval. “The hummus category continues to grow at a [high] rate of each year, and we are proud to lead the category with more than 65% market share.  This facility now allows Sabra to produce up to 8,000 tons of quality, delicious, kitchen-fresh hummus each month.”

Sabra’s expanded facility leverages proprietarily engineered solutions designed to support further innovation and enhanced food preparation from receipt of fresh ingredients to raw vegetable preparation to efficiencies in packaging. As a silver LEED-certified facility, all elements of the expansion maintain Sabra’s commitment to support the environment.

“This expansion not only furthers our ability to produce higher quantities of hummus, but [also] allows us to create an optimal environment for the Sabra family—our employees in Chesterfield County with enhanced work atmosphere, state-of-the-art office spaces and meeting rooms rooms ,” adds Shalit-Shoval. “Amenities such as a cafeteria, outdoor patio with benches and picnic tables, a full company store and a fresh coffee shop with dedicated on-site barista are expressions of the work and team environment we foster daily.”

The facility will begin production immediately. New jobs will be added throughout 2015 with more expected in 2016.