Mequon-based pet food company Fromm Family Foods LLC plans to expand its operations into a new 105,000-square-foot building that would also include room for a new micro-brewery.
The city plan commission is set to consider the proposal at its meeting Monday, with staff encouraging the company to continue to refine the plans.
The proposed building would be located on an 18-acre parcel on North Commerce Street in the Mequon Business Park. The park is located near Donges Bay Road and Wauwatosa Road. The property is located within a tax incremental financing district and Fromm has indicated it will request money from the city to support the project. Details of the request are still pending, according to city documents.
The company’s plan for the new building calls for Fromm, which makes high-end pet foods, to occupy 44,000 square feet on the north of end of the building. The space would be used for office, packaging, shipping and some warehouse activity. There would initially be 30 employees at the location with the potential for another 30 to be added over the next three years.
The plans also show a potential 62,000-square-foot addition in the future.
The brewery, to be called Fox Town Brewery, would occupy 50,000 square feet of the building, including 18,000 square feet for production, 8,000 square feet each for fermentation tanks and a tasking room and 6,000 square feet for research and development. Fromm would also own the brewery.
Fox Town would initially have 12 employees, expanding to 19 in 2019 and 31 by the end of 2020.
A total of 7,000 square feet in the building’s atrium would be shared by the two entities, with employees using it for relaxation and collaboration.
A message left for Tom Nieman, Fromm owner, was not immediately returned. His biography on the company website says he shares a passion for homebrewing with his sons and is active in local homebrew club. Nieman also has a degree in chemical engineering.
