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Nearly two years after officially breaking ground, Dot Foods celebrated the grand opening and ribbon cutting of its Manchester redistribution facility Tuesday, July 30.

Local and state officials were joined by fellow community members and Dot Foods leadership and employees at the facility located at 600 Manchester Industrial Parkway.

Dot Foods Manchester General Manager Anthony Soto welcomed the crowd to the sprawling 177,000 square-foot facility, with is the company’s 13th facility in the United States.

“It is an exciting day for the team here,” Soto said. “We have been working hard to get the facility up and running and that is not easy.”

Soto said he has had the opportunity to meet with many individuals and groups in the Manchester community, and anyone that has talked with him will know a few things.

“You have heard me talk about culture and you have heard me talk about family, and those are really the things that are important to us here at Dot,” he said. We are family owned and operated, and we work hard to make sure our employees feel the difference that makes.”

Dot Foods President George Eversman said its Manchester facility is the 15th worldwide, including two facilities in Canada and the second one in Tennessee.

Founded in 1960 by Robert and Dorothy Tracy, the company continues to be a family business, with three of the founder’s children still involved in the business today.

“The three things that they built the company on and that we still think are the cornerstones of what we do are hard work, dependability and being trustworthy,” Eversman said.

Tennessee Sec. of State Tre Hargett also spoke during the opening.

“Congratulations Dot Foods, we are so blessed with you are expanding your presence here in Tennessee, we are excited for the 300 employees you will work up to in three years and the families and the impact this will make throughout the community,” he said.

Coffee County Mayor Dennis Hunt said farming is critical to Tennessee’s economy and is a fundamental part of Coffee County as well.

“I like to think that a lot of the products, when they go through the cycle, have wound up in this warehouse, that our farmers feed the world,” Hunt said.

Featuring dry, refrigerated and frozen warehouse space, an on-site garage and offices, a significant amount of attention has been made to ensure the facility will be able to operate as smoothly as possible.

One relatively new design for Dot Foods that has been included at the Manchester location involves a loading dock with a better eye towards safety for truck drivers.

As a food redistributor, businesses that have a relationship with Dot Foods can get specifically what they need on their trucks in smaller quantities of specific items.

Following the ribbon cutting ceremony, guests were invited to participate in a guided tour of the Dot Foods Redistribution Center.

For more information about Dot Foods, visit www.dotfoods.com.