HOUSE OF MCQUEEN DESIGNER MAKES A STATEMENT, EVEN WITH HIS WILL {VOICES page 9}
SOFT-SPOKEN RYAN GOSLING CLAIMS HE’S NO PICKUP ARTIST {SCENE page 10}
LONDON
Wednesday, July 27, 2011 www.metronews.ca News worth sharing.
City gets a slice of the pizza business
Dime. Drop
430 jobs are expected to be created from the construction of Dr. Oetker pizza plant
Jessica Carswell of the March of Dimes kneels beside the “dime line” at the program’s fundraising awareness initiative yesterday afternoon outside of their offices on King Street. The March of Dimes laid out a piece of double-sided tape and encouraged the public to place their spare change onto it as a donation. MIKE ARSENAULT/FOR METRO
Advocacy group collects spare change The “dime line,” which harkened back to the program’s founding 60 years ago, when marching mothers collected “one dime at a time” to combat polio, was 36 metres in length if unfurled into a single column. It amounted to a total of $113.20.
The distinctive aroma of dough, cheese and tomato sauce will soon be wafting into the nostrils of Londoners as the Forest City may well become the Pizza City in the next couple of years. Dr. Oetker Canada has selected London as the site of the food manufacturer’s first North American frozen-pizza production facility. “The reason for choosing London is obviously its excellent location,” said Martin Reintjes, executive vice-president of Dr. Oetker. “And the possibility to get the raw materials supplying (ingredients) from the regional area.” Rather than retrofitting an existing facility, the plant will be a brand new edifice constructed at Innovation Park, north of the 401, south of Hamilton Road and west and east of Veteran’s Memorial Parkway. Construction is slated to begin by the end of this year, but once the facility is completed there will be a learning curve to navigate before production commences. “You cannot start from scratch,” Reintjes said at a news conference at city hall.
“We’re going to be the pizza capital of North America.” MAYOR JOE FONTANA
“We’ll be training, preparing, because producing a pizza is not something you can do today for tomorrow. We will start selling products produced in this factory from 2014 onwards.” In addition to a close partnership with the City of London, yesterday’s announcement was made possible with $7 million from the Ontario government toward the construction of the plant. MIKE ARSENAULT
More coverage {page 2}
Farmers to get boost 24 million pounds of ingredients will be sourced from Ontario farmers. 50 million pizzas will be made each year once the plant begins production.