Epstein is one of the leading design and construction firms focused on the food industry. Since our founding in Chicago in 1921, we have been associated with landmark projects in the United States and across the globe. Our food industry projects include processing plants, distribution centers, and product development facilities.
Epstein is a multi-disciplinary architecture, interior design, engineering and construction company.
Our engineers, architects and construction staff utilize an integrated process to produce high-performance facilities that accommodate our clients’ operations. Because we are a full-service organization, we are able to offer our clients a single source for their project requirements.
Our integrated services include:
• Strategic Planning
• Site Due Diligence
• Master Planning
• Sustainability
• Facility Design and Engineering
• Refrigeration Engineering
• Process and Packaging Engineering
• Material Handling
• Construction
• DesignBuild
We have supported clients throughout the United States and in many international locations, including Mexico, Central America, Poland, Russia, France and Spain.
1921 Food is in our DNA.
Founded in 1921 as a trusted design and engineering consultant to Chicago’s famed Union Stockyards, Epstein has grown into a leading design, engineering and construction company known for delivering efficient, flexible and cost-effective facilities for food companies throughout the world.
2023
One of the most advanced processing facilities
in
advanced food in the world.
Prestage Farms of Iowa
Epstein provided Design-Build services for this facility, which is dedicated to providing the best tasting and most consistent fresh pork products. The Prestage plant has been laid out to provide for the efficient flow of the chain, product, supplies and workers, while integrating the high standards of food safety and sanitary design .
Expansion to a second shift is embedded into the plant master plan to allow for the expansion of the coolers, distribution, office and parking facilities. The main production building, situated on the east half of the site, has several outbuildings, including a guardhouse, rendering facility and waste water treatment facility.
The Prestage facility also features temperature control throughout the process areas to heighten food safety and quality, as well as the potential use of advanced water treatment to allow the recycling of water to wash livestock pens and livestock trailers, reducing the water requirements of the plant.
LOCATION: EAGLE GROVE, IOWA
CLIENT: PRESTAGE FARMS OF IOWA
PROJECT TYPE: PORK PROCESSING PLANT SIZE: 700,000 SF
The Prestage plant integrates the use of industrial automation and robotics with “intelligent” machines so the manufacturing process can be carried out with minimal human intervention and improved meat quality.
The plant features 82,103 square feet of refrigerated storage.
This state-of-the-art processing facility utilizes advanced technology to humanely and efficiently process hogs, and includes the latest advances in stunning, robotic processing, water conservation, energy efficiency and odor control.
Product travels through the plant on more than five miles of conveyor belting
02 Spec to Custom
Spice Blend Manufacturer
Our client made a decision to build and operate a new dry mixing and packaging plant in Eastvale, California; a decision that involved leasing a developer-designed and built “spec” building of roughly 62,000 square feet.
Epstein was hired by our client to provide architecture and structural, MEP/FP and industrial process engineering services for new enclosed rooms in the center of the spec building that will provide space for our client’s specialty blending and packaging equipment, as well as rooms for electrical equipment and dust collectors.
There were several critical items that Epstein coordinated with the developer’s design team. These issues included the location and loads for walk-on ceilings, location and loads for roof top HVAC equipment, and underground sewer location and depth.
CLIENT: CONFIDENTIAL
PROJECT TYPE: DRY MIXING AND PACKAGING PLANT SIZE: 62,000 SF
Optimum Nutrition
Epstein provided full-service design and engineering services for a renovation of an existing distribution facility into a powder processing and warehouse facility for Optimum Nutrition, Inc., a subsidiary of Glanbia Performance Nutrition. The newly-renovated facility was designed to produce approximately 60 million pounds of finished goods at full build-out.
This facility is comprised of the following program components: 3-story blender pods, bulk raw material warehouse, ingredient warehouse, finished goods warehouse, QA lab, equipment washing and drying rooms, maintenance shop, 12 incoming and 12 outgoing docks, boiler and chilled water mechanical room, offices, cafeteria, dust collection rooms, packaging and filling rooms, restrooms, locker rooms, uniform room, training room, ingredient weighing rooms, and battery charging area.
PROJECT TYPE: POWDER PROCESS PLANT FACILITY SIZE: 595,000 SF
Epstein developed a design that minimized as many dust emitting points as possible, isolated those remaining points into enclosed and isolated spaces, designed effective dust collection systems for bag dump stations, drum dump stations, trash removal, IBC loading and unloading, super sack unloading, blender loading and unloading, and filling.
Dust collectors were fitted with deflagration isolation and suppression systems, the exhaust from the collectors passed through MERV-13 secondary filters, and the cleaned air was returned to the original space, keeping the air pressurization in balance.
Epstein developed a design that minimized as many dust emitting points as possible, isolated those remaining points into enclosed and isolated spaces.
Packaging Line
Efficient & Flexible
Alpina Foods
The facility was designed in compliance with both FDA and USDA regulations in order to allow Alpina maximum flexibility in product type. Although not seeking LEED certification due to the heavy process demands, the facility incorporated numerous LEED and energy saving components.
The building is comprised of three main components: the production spaces, the employee office and amenity spaces and the support spaces. The production portion of the building consists of receiving areas, a production core, a packaging component, a laboratory and warehousing and distribution functions. The employee office and amenity spaces include locker rooms, a break room, a front lobby, and an office component. These elements incorporate a level of design unique to production facilities while still remaining on a budget. The support spaces consist of the mechanical, electrical and maintenance type rooms necessary to support the building’s functions.
PROJECT TYPE: YOGURT PRODUCTION PLANT SIZE: 40,000 SF
Filling Room with view into Dry Good Ingredients & Packaging Space
Epstein worked with Alpina to design a facility that allows for significant future expansion as well as maximum flexibility in current and future product types.
Dusk view of Main Entrance
Adaptive Reuse.
Ruiz Food Products
Epstein provided Design-Build services for the remodeling, renovation and adaptive re-use of a vacant Pillsbury Foods plant in Denison, Texas into a frozen Mexican entrée production facility. The scope of work included: coordination and installation of all process equipment, the replacement of the aging sanitary and process infrastructure, upgrading all site utilities including new electrical and natural gas services to meet new refrigeration and process equipment demands, conversion of a 48,000-square-foot 32° cooler into a -10° freezer, construction of a new boiler room and refrigeration room, and the installation of new state-of-the-art automated process equipment for production, packaging and distribution of a wide variety of frozen burritos, taquitos and roller grill products. The project included 29,000 square feet of administrative/welfare space, 48,000 square feet of freezer space, 23,000 square feet of refrigerated space, 60,000 square feet of USDA food processing space and 24,000 square feet of product storage and loading docks.
LOCATION: DENISON, TEXAS
CLIENT: RUIZ FOOD PRODUCTS, INC.
PROJECT TYPE: FROZEN MEXICAN ENTRÉE PRODUCTION FACILITY
SIZE: 262,000 SF
Packaging
Lableing Machine
Tortilla Conveyor
Greener, by Design.
Testa Produce
Epstein provided architectural design, civil engineering and LEED consulting services for the new 91,300-squarefoot headquarters and produce distribution facility for Testa Produce, Inc., located in the old Union Stockyards complex in Chicago, Illinois. The 12.86-acre project includes 20,000 square feet of Class A office space and a distribution center containing a 7,600-square-foot 0° freezer, 24,700 square feet of cooler space, approximately 39,000 square feet of dry warehouse and 40 truck dock positions on two refrigerated cross docks. This building is one of the most sustainable industrial facilities of its kind, and the first LEED-NC Platinum Refrigerated Distribution Facility.
LOCATION: CHICAGO, ILLINOIS
CLIENT: TESTA PRODUCE
PROJECT TYPE: HEADQUARTERS & PRODUCE
DISTRIBUTION CENTER SIZE:
91,300 SF
The facility also features a 1-acre vegetated green roof that covers approximately 50 percent of the net roof area.
The building features numerous Epstein developed sustainable design strategies, including incorporating a 238-foot-tall wind turbine that provides power to the facility and a variety of landscape, solar and water conservation features.
25% The turbine generates roughly 25 percent of the building’s power.
The wind turbine is the first free standing turbine in the City of Chicago and is capable of producing 750 kilowatts of power.
Focused on Safety.
Seaboard Triumph Foods
Epstein was entrusted by STF to design, engineer and build a modern fresh pork plant focused on food safety and efficiency to meet the growing demands of domestic and international customers.
The design of the STF facility reflects a modern food processing plant, incorporating many state-of-the-art technologies.
This STF pork processing facility uses robotics and innovative technologies to produce the most sought-after pork for diverse global consumers in several market segments, including retail, international, food service, and further processing markets.
LOCATION: SIOUX CITY, IOWA
CLIENT: SEABOARD TRIUMPH FOODS
PROJECT TYPE: PORK PROCESSING PLANT SIZE: 925,000 SF
Sanitation principles are implemented throughout the facility, including automated equipment and conveyor wash systems capable of delivering more than 3,000 gallons per minute of wash-down flow cumulatively.
Multiple vision systems are monitored to maintain traceability throughout the process as well as improve product yield via robotic harvesting technologies at critical production steps.
The STF plant also features a wide variety of refrigerated spaces, including a -22° Snap Chill room, multiple 26° Equilibration Bays, 24° Fresh Product Storage space, and a 40° dock.
Epstein’s design, construction and operations teams worked hand-in-hand with the city,fire department and utilities to integrate this new facility seamlessly into the Sioux City area.
The STF plant produces fresh pork for the PrairieFresh® Premium Pork and Seaboard Farms® brands. These brands are part of a uniquely-connected food system that is produced through a strategic partnership between Seaboard Foods and Triumph Foods, and marketed and sold by Seaboard Foods.
Vegetable Juices, Inc.
Epstein provided Design-Build services for the final design, engineering and construction of a new 3,940-square-foot liquid to dry powder processing area within Vegetable Juices’ existing Bedford Park facility.
Epstein was hired by Vegetable Juices, Inc. to provide design and construction management services for the installation of a Drum Dryer process at their facility. The project scope includes the renovation of approximately 4,000 square feet of existing dry warehouse space into sanitary processing and packaging areas, where our client converts various fruit purees into concentrated powders.
LOCATION: BEDFORD PARK, ILLINOIS CLIENT: VEGETABLE JUICES, INC.
