A business that prepares fresh seafood and other items for use in sushi bars and Japanese steakhouses around the country plans to open a new location on Elgin’s west side.
Martinez Produce and Seafood Inc. has received Elgin City Council approval to open a distribution facility inside a 65,554-square-foot building at 2428 Bath Road. The 3.86-acre property is located at the northwest corner of Bath Road and Capital Street.
The business, which is not open to the public, supplies ingredients for sushi to 2,000 restaurants in a seven-state area, according to city documents.
“This facility in Elgin is beautiful,” Joe Schuetz, general manager for Martinez Produce and Seafood Inc., said at the Dec. 4 meeting of the Elgin Planning and Zoning Commission. “We spend a lot of money. We are pretty excited to move forward.”
The new facility will supplement the growing company’s locations in Chicago, Boston and St. Michael, Minnesota, he said.
Elgin city staff visited the Chicago plant to see how it operates before recommending commission and council approval, Senior Planner Damir Latinovic said at the commission meeting.
“We’ve been very impressed with how clean and smooth the operations were,” he said.
The company washes, scales, cuts, packs and ships orders in cold temperatures, according to city documents. It does not do any grinding, cooking or manufacturing of seafood, the documents said.
All seafood waste is picked up and disposed of on a daily basis, Latinovic said.
The facility will be located in a light-industrial area and will not require a special exhaust system because it does not generate fumes or emissions, he said.
It will operate from 5 a.m. to 2 a.m. seven days a week. About 95 people will be employed over three shifts. Eight loading docks will handle all supply deliveries and product shipping, documents said.
Gloria Casas is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.
