How Bartlett is trying to get company to make lasagna in town

Bartlett officials are recommending approval of a $50,000 economic incentive for Rana Meal Solutions to expand its pasta- making facilities in the Brewster Creek Business Park and produce lasagna in a new 326,000-square-foot building.

Though no objections to the incentive were raised at Tuesday's committee of the whole meeting, the village board won't vote on final approval until its next meeting on Oct. 3, Village Administrator Paula Schumacher said.

The incentive, which will come from revenue already earned by the business park's tax-increment finance district, is intended to cover permitting costs for the company's expansion and would match the amount the village paid toward Rana's original move to 550 Spitzer Road in 2011, she added.

The village's incentive would be in addition to an offer by the Illinois Department of Economic Opportunity to continue its per-employee tax credit incentive to Rana Meal Solutions. As of June, the company had earned $764,551 through such tax credits since opening.

Rana currently has 229 employees, but the planned expansion creates the potential to grow to more than 370, according to Bartlett officials.

The new plant would be built on an 11.7-acre site on the west side of its current facility.

Rana Meal Solutions was already a leading producer of pasta in Europe before expanding to the U.S. with its purchase of an existing 100,000-square-foot manufacturing plant in Bartlett.

Company officials did not return phone calls seeking comment about the expansion on Thursday.