County officials are excited that this could help grape farmers who lost their contract with Refresco.

On Tuesday, Robert Patterson with WMC Grape Juice, LLC, appeared at the Chautauqua County Industrial Development Agency meeting to apply for a $200,000 loan, which was unanimously approved.

For several years, Patterson and other members of Westfield Maid Cooperative, Inc. have been trying to open a juice packing facility, where they would package 4 ounce concord grape juice called “Good n Grapey.”

The packages would not be for sale via retail, but instead be sold to schools, hospitals, prisons, food banks and more.

Pictured are the packages that WMC Grape Juice plans to produce. They would not be sold in stores, but instead sold to schools, hospitals, food banks and other places.

Westfield Main Cooperative, Inc. previously purchased the former DeHavens Westfield Dodge City building at 7505 E. Route 20. The building will be renovated and converted into a fruit juice pouch filling and packaging facility.

Patterson said at the IDA meeting they have ordered a packing machine. Once it comes in, they hope to start construction by Nov. 1.

In the beginning, the juice packing will be done by members of Westfield Maid Cooperative, Inc.

Because of this, the number of new employees is on the low side. According to Kristine Morabito there will be no new employees in the first year. By year two, WMC Grape Juice plans on hiring 3.75 full-time employees. After six years, they plan on having 16 new employees.

“WMC believes this product will secure their grower member farms’ futures by reducing current dependency on a single customer on a single market, while also positioning them on profitable sales growth, in diversified niche markets for concord grape juice,” Morabito said.

In March, Refresco announced it was canceling all of their contracts with grape growers. Refresco is one of the processors for many in the local Lake Erie region, buying from 126 growers and 2,600 acres of grapes in both New York and Pennsylvania.

The entire juice packing project is expected to cost $2,615,000.

The $200,000 approved by the county IDA Tuesday is for working capital.

Additional startup assistance for the project has been provided by the New York Small Business Development Center at JCC, Empire State Development, USDA’s Rural Development Guarantee, and more.

County Executive PJ Wendel, state Sen. George Borrello and retired Assemblyman Andy Goodell have all been championing the project over the last few years.

“We want to do everything we can to help WMC Grape Juice provide schools and other institutional customers with this healthy, pure juice option while securing dozens of local growers and their livelihood. This is a huge win-win all around,” Wendel said.

Borrello agreed. “My staff and I have been working with the team for several years on this initiative and, in light of the recently canceled Refresco contracts, this is especially important timing for the grower cooperative to diversify and enter new markets,” he said.

Westfield Town Supervisor Martha Bills also expressed her support. “The most important agricultural product in Westfield’s history continues to be the concord grape, with grape and juice processing and wine making as significant economic drivers for the agriculture industry and related employment. Having Welch’s, Growers Cooperative, Mogen David and CK natural Fruit Juice all processing or bottling locally, Westfield Maid Co-op’s new WMC Grape Juice fruit juice pouch facility is a welcome addition,” she said.

Patterson said they have a verbal contract with a Pennsylvania food bank worth $600,000.

He said in the next couple of weeks they will be making new samples and doing additional marketing.

Their immediate plans call for about 5,600 tons of grapes from the members of their co-op.

County IDA Director Mark Geise noted that could increase. “If it catches on the way (they) think it’s going to, then it could be very significant,” he said.

The project has been discussed for many years. In 2022, Westfield Maid Cooperative entered the New York Concord Grape Innovation competition hosted by Cornell AgriTech, where they won the Best New Concord Beverage category, along with $20,000 for startup expenses.