Birdsong plans expansion
Published 6:41 pm Saturday, December 26, 2015
![Birdsong Peanuts plans to double its office space with a planned expansion this spring. The current office on Madison Avenue is about 10,000 square feet.](https://www.suffolknewsherald.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2015/12/use-IMG_0585.jpg)
Birdsong Peanuts plans to double its office space with a planned expansion this spring. The current office on Madison Avenue is about 10,000 square feet.
Birdsong Peanuts hopes to kick off construction of an addition to its headquarters this spring.
“We’ve outgrown this office, is what it amounts to,” said Everett Birdsong, vice president of operations and procurement.
The company was granted rezoning and street vacation requests this fall to help the project move forward for the office on Madison Avenue. The company plans to expand the building to the back, toward East Washington Street, and have additional parking across Mulberry Street.
“We have kind of run out of room as we’ve expanded,” said Charles Birdsong, a vice president of the company. “We’re trying to forecast where some additional space will be needed in the years to come.”
The company employs about 100 in Suffolk between its office and factory operations. Charles Birdsong said there are scheduling conflicts almost daily in the meeting spaces in the office. When training sessions or big company meetings come along, everyone can barely fit in the conference room that contains audiovisual equipment, which is crucial for connecting with staff in Georgia and Texas.
The 10,000-square-foot office, which will double in size with the expansion, was built in 1985.
“We’re really just trying to make the work environment better,” Charles Birdsong said. A few employees might be moved from warehouses offices to the office building.
The company buys peanuts from farmers and cleans, shells and sizes them. It then sells the raw, cleaned, sized peanut to companies like Planters, Jif and Mars that will put the product into jars of peanuts and mixed nuts, make it into peanut butter or put it in candy bars.
Everett Birdsong said construction could start in March, or earlier if everything goes well.