North Carolina's largest flour mill finishes $28M expansion

A large flour mill in Wilson's Mills recently finished a $28 million expansion nearly two years in the making.

The facility, ran by Kansas City-based Bartlett, is the largest flour mill in North Carolina. This expansion adds a third milling unit and more storage space for wheat, flour and millfeed. The facility is located at 5000 Wilson's Mills Road.

"The biggest reason that we chose to expand was was really the growth of our customers in the region," said Trey Sebus, Bartlett vice president for Milling. "They've been driving the need for additional capacity."

Sebus said the company employs about 75 workers at the mill, as another eight employees have been brought on as part of the expansion. The expansion started in July 2021 and finished this April.

The mill now has a daily capacity of 20,000 cwts and storage capacity of 1.1 million bushels of wheat.

"With hundreds of working farms across our county, Johnston County leadership and the economic development office is extremely proud to support the efforts of our agriculture and food tech sector," said Chris Johnson, economic development director of Johnston County.

Sebus said that Bartlett makes a line of commercial flours used in commercial bakeries producing cookies, crackers, bread, frozen foods, pizza crusts and tortillas. These products wind up in grocery stores, fast food restaurants and retail shops.

The Wilson's Mills grain mill was built in 2000 and acquired by Bartlett in 2007. Bartlett has been a part of Savage, based in Salt Lake City, Utah, since 2018.

There has been a bevy of industrial developments sprouting up across Johnston County. Active Triangle industrial developer Matt Stephens is looking to have 370 acres rezoned along Gordon Road, and a new $35 million advanced manufacturing training center is being built with the aim to beef up the county's workforce pipeline.

Evan Hoopfer covers real estate and economic development in the Greater Triangle, focusing on the counties outside Wake and Durham. Have a tip? Reach him at [email protected] or (919) 327-1012.