Dainty plans phased rice-meal production in Ohio

A phased manufacturing plan for Ohio

Dainty Foods plans to establish its first US manufacturing operation in Batavia Township, Ohio, near Cincinnati. The Canadian producer of private-label rice and ready-to-heat meals has established Dainty USA LLC for its American expansion. The planned facility covers 250,000 square feet.

The project starts with an $85 million investment. Dainty expects total investment to reach up to $150 million over five years, with production introduced in phases rather than at full scale from the outset.

Capacity and production schedule

Once fully operational, the Ohio facility is expected to employ 240 people and produce 250 million units annually.

Dainty schedules its first phase for the first quarter of 2027. The operation will manufacture retort pouches and expand into cups and bowls. Dainty belongs to Marbour Group, a privately owned company headquartered in France.

Marbour Group.

Windsor’s earlier retort expansion

Dainty’s Windsor, Ontario, facility began producing ready-to-heat rice pouches before the Ohio announcement. On October 15, 2024, the company announced that its first retort-production phase was operational and that initial pouches were reaching retailers.

The company then expected a second phase to finish in early 2025. That date was a completion forecast at the time of the announcement. The Windsor installation could accommodate rice, pulses, grains and pasta recipes for private-label customers across North America.

Ready-to-heat product categories

Rice pouches;
Grain and pulse products;
Pasta meal options.

Dainty offered 90-second ready-to-heat pouches alongside product-development services tailored to retailers’ brands. Its recipe offering included hundreds of options, allowing customers to select different meal formulations for their private-label ranges.

Canadian production and distribution

By September 2025, Dainty had added another Windsor production line and another shift during the preceding August. CEO James Maitland said the Canadian operation would continue serving Canada while the proposed US facility would serve American customers.

A separate warehouse plan

Maitland also outlined a roughly 90,000-square-foot distribution centre near Central Avenue in Windsor. In the September 2025 interview, he expected it to open at the end of the following January and add 30 jobs. Those warehouse plans were separate from the Ohio manufacturing workforce.

Dainty began as Mount Royal Rice Mills in Montreal in 1882. The company moved its rice mill to Windsor in 1967 to be closer to US suppliers.