As food prices surge to record highs, a pair of West Michigan food banks — Comstock Park-based Feeding America West Michigan and Ottawa Food in Holland Charter Township — have secured public funding to expand their services and meet growing demands. 

GRAND RAPIDS — Alpine Township-based Perrin Brewing Co. plans to open a new beer garden at Van Andel Arena under the terms of a sponsorship deal with the Grand Rapids Gold G-League basketball team. 

SHELBY — Perdue Farms, a Salisbury, Md.-based food and agricultural firm, will invest more than $27 million to renovate a former food processing facility in Oceana County. 

As Michigan Agritourism Month draws to a close, a group of Northern Michigan wineries are left to wonder why the statewide recognition of the industry’s economic and social benefits continues to escape local policymakers. 

A wastewater pipeline expansion project that local leaders and company executives say is crucial for agribusiness expansion in Ottawa and Muskegon counties has received $60 million in state funding.

The Michigan Strategic Fund has taken an initial step in approving a $225 million bond for a company pursuing a large-scale potash mining operation in Osceola County.

GRAND RAPIDS — Sip Shine LLC, a marketer of moonshine and canned cocktails, plans to open its first tasting room and restaurant in the Harmony Hall building on Grand Rapids’ west side.

The substantial craft brewing industry in Grand Rapids seemingly has something to offer for every beer drinker. Yet despite ranking 13th in the nation for breweries per capita, the local industry has one glaring omission: gender representation. 

KENTWOOD — A European manufacturer of natural snack food products will invest nearly $42 million to establish a U.S. headquarters in Kentwood and create up to 185 jobs in the process, state officials announced today.

A group of mostly West Michigan investors, led by former Founders Brewing Co. Chairman John Green, has acquired Natterjack Irish Whiskey maker Gortinore Distillers & Co. after partnering with the company’s founder to avoid liquidation, MiBiz has learned. 

KALAMAZOO — Bell’s Brewery Inc. has launched a new charitable initiative that expects to distribute $480,000 in donations in its first year and support social and environmental causes in communities where its products are distributed.

A Mead Johnson & Co. LLC production facility in Zeeland is set to receive more than 300,000 pounds of infant base formula to blend, package and redistribute in the coming weeks as federal officials seek to ease an ongoing supply shortage.

ZEELAND — A West Michigan formula producer will import roughly 331,000 pounds of infant formula base powder this month from a facility in Mexico to be blended, packaged and redistributed.

CADILLAC — Long Road Distillers LLC is shutting down its Cadillac tasting room after a year in business because of staffing challenges.

Michigan employers will have at least six months to prepare for an increase to the state’s minimum wage and stronger paid sick leave requirements following a Friday court ruling that brought swift applause from restaurant owners.

GRAND RAPIDS — Roskam Baking Co., the quietly massive operation that helped put West Michigan on the map as a center for food manufacturing, has sold to new private equity owners after nearly a century as a family owned business. 

State officials are preparing to distribute federal block grant funding for Michigan seafood processors that significantly shifted from a wholesale to a retail focus during the COVID-19 pandemic.

WYOMING — Food service distributor Gordon Food Service Inc. is among the returning investors in a Chicago-based venture capital fund that invests in the food and retail industries. 

Already pinched by an ongoing dearth of available workers, restaurants are also facing significant increases in their expenses tied to equipment maintenance and repairs.

Small distilleries and grain farmers in Michigan are poised to benefit from a new state law that incentivizes the use of Michigan-grown grains when producing liquor.

WYOMING — As a food distributor serving a large swath of the country, Gordon Food Service Inc. is closely involved with the pain points facing restaurants and food service operations.

BYRON CENTER — Food retailer and distributor SpartanNash Co. has closed on a deal to purchase the Shop-N-Save Food Center chain of grocery stores.

BYRON CENTER — Food retailer and distributor SpartanNash Co. has fended off efforts by an activist investor group to seat three directors on the company’s nine-person board.

PENINSULA TWP. — A group of Northern Michigan wineries have found relief from a collection of township ordinances that business owners said restricted their operations and limited significant revenue streams.

Local entrepreneur Terra Osman leveraged her self-taught development skills to create a mobile app that connects buyers and sellers of local produce and garden supplies.

Local investors joined an $82 million capital round for a company that began in Kalamazoo and developed an ecologically friendly pesticide.

State agriculture officials have announced $200,000 in grant funding to support a Norton Shores coffee producer’s expansion that would create the largest cold brew production facility in the United States.

ZEELAND TWP. — Walters Gardens Inc. is investing $9.15 million to expand its operations in Zeeland Charter Township with a new 40,000-square-foot greenhouse.

BYRON CENTER — Grocery retailer and food distributor SpartanNash Co. has partnered with global tech company DoorDash Inc. to provide on-demand grocery delivery for a large swath of the nation.

The Howmet Aerospace Foundation has awarded $200,000 in grant funding to provide Muskegon-area students with increased access to science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education through the lens of food processing and food science.

KALAMAZOO — Green Door Distilling Co. now has a National Basketball Association Hall of Fame player within its ownership group.

Newly introduced state legislation aims to bring clarity to a legal gray area that has prevented some Michigan bars and breweries from using their businesses to fuel charitable giving.