Springfield company expanding to Fairfield; job impact uncertain

SPRINGFIELD — Keystone Foods, the parent of Springfield’s M & M Restaurant Supply, 1805 Gateway Blvd., has announced it will open a new distribution plant in Fairfield next year and move the majority of the work currently done in Springfield to the new location.

The food distribution company, which currently services 510 McDonald’s restaurants out of the Springfield location, has acquired additional McDonald’s markets in Louisville and Lexington and will move all its McDonald’s-related operations to the Fairfield location during the first quarter of 2011, said Keystone Senior Vice President Maureen Garrity. The Springfield M & M, which employs 205, will continue to service 88 Chipotle restaurants.

“This is a growth opportunity not only in Fairfield, but in Springfield as well,” Garrity said.”Our Springfield Distribution Center will remain open and will continue serving non-McDonald’s business, including Chipotle.”

The possible impact on those employees will depend on the company’s ability to secure additional business to fill the gap, she said. “We are .... actively seeking new opportunities for the Springfield warehouse space, and this move gives us greater capacity to attract new business.”

Springfield Economic Development Administrator Tom Franzen said Philadelphia-based Keystone did not approach the city about its plans to expand in Fairfield, “but if it allows them to grow both locations, we wouldn’t want it any other way.

“The city looks forward to engaging in a dialogue with Keystone to see what assistance we can provide,” he said.

The city does want to know, however, why it was not notified that the Ohio Department of Development along with the City of Fairfield was offering tax incentives to the company, Franzen said. The Ohio Revised Code requires such notification when tax incentives could move jobs from one Ohio city to another.

Contact this reporter at (937) 328-0347 or kmori@coxohio.com.

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