In November 2023, Ogden City welcomed Ya YA Foods to the city’s business community. Ya YA Foods, a Canadian based company, announced it would bringing more than 300 new jobs to Ogden, Utah, over the next ten years. The company is bringing new jobs to Ogden at a quicker pace than initially anticipated, thanks in part to the qualities of Utah’s workforce.
Ogden City’s Engineering Division and Economic Development Division has also been collaborating with Ya YA Foods on utility line upgrades that will greatly improve the city’s residential and business infrastructure.
We caught up with Ya YA Foods president Yahya Abbas to learn more about the company’s experience opening its first U.S. operations in Utah.
Most of our operations are in Toronto, and Utah is our first site in the U.S. We looked at Arizona and Texas and Utah. Because we wanted to have a western U.S. location, Utah was the most reasonable and sensible place for us to expand. Then came the opportunity to partner with Oatly at their Ogden City location. That’s how it all came together.
Our agreement with Oatley has us assuming the production of their finished products. It’s a long-term agreement, and it gives us an anchor customer for the Ogden site. This will allow us to expand on the site and serve other customers, too.
It was customer driven. We have the same customer base in Canada and the U.S.: long-established clients who are expanding and who need a trusted production partner in the western United States. Some of them are multi-national corporations, and one has done business with us for more than 34 years. The newest client has done business with us for eight years.
We employ a lot of engineers and technicians – highly-paid, skilled labor. In our business, we focus on automation, so we need the talent. If I’m not mistaken, we pay very well for that talent in this market.
We relocated only five people from Toronto. They bring expertise, and they train the rest of the people in the plant. Our focus is hiring in Utah. We want to prepare Utah employees to be leaders, to scale up the business. So far, it’s working very well.
At the beginning, this expansion was projected to be 100 jobs in the near term. Right now, we’re at 150 jobs. By the end of this year, we’ll add another 67. In the first six months of 2025, we should add another 100 jobs. I think this site will eventually reach 400 employees.
Ogden City has given us many leads for finding talent, such as the university and the local community college. It’s interesting that through the job fairs and other events, we’ve actually seen people from other states coming to Utah looking to work for us. Idaho, California, Texas, Arizona… Maybe in all, 14 of these out-of-state people have been hired, but that’s significant for us. Because of our focus on technology in the manufacturing process and our pay scales, we’re getting attraction. Plus living in Northern Utah has lower costs than other parts of the country.
I believe that about Northern Utah, yes. We are very impressed with the workforce in Utah. For one thing, when we ask employees to do something a specific way, a lot of repetition is not needed. We tell them once, and it happens. They get it.
The other thing is they value their jobs. They are loyal to the employer if the employer is loyal to them. I hadn’t expected that, and it was a nice surprise.
Founded in 2008 and headquartered in Toronto, Ya YA Foods specializes in end-to-end packaging solutions for multinational beverage and liquid food companies across North America. The company has expertise in producing a broad range of aseptic products, including plant-based milk for companies such as Oatly, high-protein beverages, juices, broths, sports drinks, dairy-based drinks, and more.
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