Windsor pita chip company receives $1 million in federal funding

The federal government announced a $1 million investment in Windsor-based company Cedar Valley on Jan. 14, 2025. (Robert Lothian/CTV News Windsor)

A Windsor-based company specializing in the production of pita chips has received a $1 million federal investment to aid in production.

The repayable loan is intended to help Cedar Valley Selections increase production as demand grows.

Ruby Sahota, the minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for southern Ontario, toured the south Windsor facility Tuesday afternoon ahead of the announcement.

“This improved capacity will enable you to diversify your product line and better meet the increasing demands of both Canada and international customers,” Sahota said.

The loan is part of a government fund meant to help companies scale their business.

“We want to see Canadian products on our shelves, and we want to see Canadian products across the world, so it is the government’s job to make sure that we’re there to support manufacturing in our sector,” Sahota said.

According to Ameen Fadel, the co-founder and president of Cedar Valley, the loan will allow the company to invest in manufacturing equipment and additional employees.

“So, we’ve grown, you know, we’ve doubled our business year over year, and we have a lot of opportunity, especially in the States right now, to grow our business, so we really need to automate to increase our capacity,” Fadel said following the announcement.

As part of the agreement, Cedar Valley will work on qualified projects over a two-year period, which has already begun.

Fadel noted they plan to hire four additional staff members to add to their existing 29 employees.

Previously, Cedar Valley received $925,000 from FedDev Ontario to purchase new equipment.

The latest funding will allow the company to make another significant expansion to its existing production capacity.

“So really, it will let us become the number one pita chip company in Canada, and then a really big competitor in the United States, because we are going up against a big conglomerate, you know, as a small family company,” he said.

Cedar Valley recently moved into a new 12,000-square-foot manufacturing warehouse and has begun using offsite warehousing space to store products.