Food Processing

With numerous local farms and successful food and beverage processors and distributors, Waterloo Region has built a strong food processing cluster.

According to Stats Can, by 2017, Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo had more than 115 business establishments in the food processing sector, which ranked Waterloo Region as number two among the Southwest eight Census Metropolitan Areas.

Our community is also home to many post-secondary institutes, like Conestoga College's Institute of Food Processing Technology (IFPT). The IFPT provides education, training, research and technical experience within the food processing industry. Programs, like the ones offered through IFPT, provide a steady flow of highly skilled technicians and qualified personal into the industry.

In 2016, there were more than 5,700 jobs in the food processing sector in Waterloo Region, which is 56% above national average. This ranked Waterloo Region as number one among the Southwest eight Census Metropolitan Areas.

Waterloo Region has many well-known food processing employers with more than 200 employees, including:

• Frito-Lay Canada
• Piller's Fine Foods
• Dare Foods Limited
• Weston Bakeries
• Conestoga Meat Packers
• Elmira Pet Foods
• Grand River Foods