Table Talk to centralize cold storage of finished pies with new building
Photo | Sam Bonacci
Harry Kokkinis, president of Table Talk Pies, at the groundbreaking of the company's 50,000-square-foot facility in 2016 at the South Worcester Industrial Park.
Table Talk Pies is planning to expand its footprint in Worcester with a 27,000-square-foot cold-storage building at its Southgate Street facility. In an interview with WBJ, President Harry Kokkinis spoke about the company’s dire need for the building as the company increases production.
Was the freezer building always a part of the plan on Southgate Street?
No. I guess it’s a result of both our growing and the lack of a lot of cold storage facilities in the area. Capacity here is getting really tight, and we’ve seen over time the benefits of what it would be like to have our own freezer.
The building will be right next to the Southgate Street building?
Right off Armory Street, to the west end of the site we’re currently on.
Were any other locations possible for the freezer building?
We thought about it, but we have always thought about building a warehouse in the area. We were thinking we’d need a warehouse for our ingredients, raw materials and packaging. We said, “Gee, we really need a freezer that caters to our business.” It’s better to have it here right next to our plant.
What will be stored in it?
It’s really going to be a place for our finished goods coming off of our production lines. We’ll do a lot of thaw and sell businesses as well as raw unbaked pies. They’ll come off production lines and into the holding freezer before being shipped out to customers.
Where are finished products stored now?
We use a number of cold storage facilities in the area, including in Uxbridge, Westfield and here in Worcester. We even ship goods to a facility in Pennsylvania.
We’re using cold storage facilities all over New England. This building will help us bring a lot of it back home.
Will Table Talk continue to utilize some of those facilities?
For some particular customers, they may be useful. A lot of these places are close to major customers. We’ll be using them, but not as much as we have in the past.
They provide a service of holding our pies, but unfortunately, capacity is very tight in those facilities. Every once in a while we get a little bit of a scare when there might not be adequate storage space in the area.
It will be nice to have control over that.
How far along is the addition of a second production line at your South Worcester Industrial Park facility?
The second is up and operational as we speak. It was finished this summer. We haven’t really said much about it, but it’s been great to have a second line in that new building.
This interview was conducted and edited for length and clarity by WBJ Staff Writer Zachary Comeau.
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