Canada Bread Co. has broken ground on a 375,000 sq ft bakery located in Hamilton, Ontario, which it claims will be the largest bakery in Canada.

The facility will integrate “modern equipment and best-in-class technologies”, the firm said yesterday (23 June).

“Today marks a major step forward with our C$100m (US$96m) investment in building a world-class facility that will be Canada’s largest bakery and also support our sustained growth as Canada’s leading Fresh Bakery business,” said Barry McLean, president, Canada Bread Fresh Bakery. “We are very pleased to have selected Hamilton as the location where we will grow. Not only is the city a great partner, it offers a skilled workforce, excellent infrastructure, and ready access to our markets.”

Around 120 construction jobs are expected to be created during the construction phase of the project which is expected to take around 12 months with the first production lines being commissioned by July 2011 and remaining lines phased in over the next 18 months.