Taher relocates kitchen from Brown Deer to Milwaukee, will add 62 employees!
Taher Inc., which provides food service management services to institutions, has opened a production kitchen and food processing facility at 4290 N. Teutonia Ave. in Milwaukee.
The expansion means Taher will be able to expand its operation from about 18 full- and part-time workers to 85 full- and part-time workers over the next two years.
Bruce Taher, owner of the Minnesota-based company, said the company had a small kitchen in Brown Deer, but he decided to relocate to buy a building and remodel it in Milwaukee to tap into its lower-wage workforce. The company has been in business for 33 years.
Taher said a number of his workers had transportation problems, specifically with access to busing to Brown Deer, and Taher found that employees were not as dependable.
“This is good for us because quite frankly we’re not in an industry that pays a lot of money to our employees,” Taher said. “Most of our people make between $8 to $14 an hour. Being in Milwaukee allows us to attract a lot of good people and it’s hard to find steady solid people.”
Taher Real Estate LLC purchased and remodeled the former Ferko Meat Co., a 10,800-square-foot facility that had sat empty for about two years.
The company is financing the $1.2 million remodeling project with the help of a $738,000 loan from the Milwaukee Economic Development Corp., which was approved Tuesday.
The facility was designed to produce fresh food for charter schools, senior nutrition programs, grocery stores and gas stations, Taher said.
“We’ve been finished for about three weeks,” Taher said. “It’s nerve wracking, but exciting. You use your last bit of savings to chase a dream.”
Denise Lockwood
Reporter-Milwaukee Business Journal
