Premium Brands Holdings’ sales of grab-and-go breakfast sandwiches and wraps for Starbucks are helping make it North America’s fastest-growing packaged- food supplier.

The company, which last August opened a 180,000-square foot sandwich factory in Columbus, Ohio, is considering plans to build another U.S. plant as soon as this year.

“Historically, our growth has been restricted by a lack of capacity, not a lack of demand,” Chief Executive Officer George Paleologou said in a May 21 phone interview. “More consumers are eating breakfast on the run and looking for alternatives for cereal.”

Shifting consumer preferences help explain why Paleologou, 54, expects the Richmond, British Columbia-based company’s sandwich sales to double in five years to $490 million. Sales, which include live seafood and processed meats such as salami and pepperoni, have more than doubled since 2010 to last year.

Premium Brands shares have returned about 26 percent to investors this year, the most of six packaged-food makers in Canada with a market value of more than $100 million. Its 25 percent annual sales-growth rate in the past five years was the fastest among its North American food peers, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

“It’s one of the fastest growth stories in packaged foods,” Christian Godin, the Montreal-based head of equities at Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. who oversees about one million shares of Premium Brands.

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Paleologou expects to make a decision on construction of the company’s next U.S. sandwich plant by the end of the year. In addition to Columbus, the company has a 160,000-square-foot facility in Reno, Nevada, and two plants in Canada.

Premium Brands owns more than 30 foodmakers including Ferndale, Washington-based Hempler Foods Group and Waterloo, Ontario-based Piller’s Fine Foods.

Paleologou estimates the company accounts for as much as 50 percent of packaged-sandwich production in Canada and 5 to 10 percent in the U.S.

Premium Brands became a supplier to Starbucks after acquiring Seattle-based SK Food Group Inc. about five years ago.


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