Coke Bottling Canada invests $8M in Hamilton plant

Hamilton’s economy may be getting a boost as Coke Bottling Canada says it’s putting money back into the business, supporting jobs and looking for a long-term future in the city.

You may not know it, but Coke Bottling Canada has a huge facility in Hamilton’s industrial area.

With 165 current employees, the company has been in Hamilton since 1924 and they’re celebrating their first hundred years.

The facility along Barton Street East has room for 350,000 cases of Coke and other soft drinks and beverages handled there.

“As Hamilton’s local bottler, we’re committed to this local community for the long term,” said Tony Chow, president of Coke Canada Bottling.

They’ve just spent $8 million on plant improvements.

“I think it pretty much means that we’re here to stay and we want to be here for a long time. We want to be part of Hamilton for the next 100 years — and the investment that we just kind of placed into this really shows that we are here for the long term,” said General Manager Chase Heinemann.

And they’re giving $10,000 to local charity Wesley Urban Ministries.

“We’ll be using it to help our programs operate, get people who are living in poverty to be more comfortable in their lives,” said Celeste Weston, Chief development and communications officer from Wesley.

The company is thriving despite having to deal with U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs on steel and aluminum, including Coke’s aluminum cans.

“The amount of aluminum that we would use, there has been an adverse impact, but not different to any other year. We always have costs that go up and costs that go down. It’s our job to make sure that from a consumer lens, they feel as little of that impact as they can,” said Chow.

“Without our economy, a strong economy, we have nothing and we’re fighting with the guy south of the border,” said Ontario Premier Doug Ford.

They’ve got the support of Premier Ford, who says forget about President Trump.

“I can assure you, we’ll get through this little hump with Trump. And we can be the wealthiest richest country in the entire world,” said Ford.

With prospects for growth and new jobs.

“We’re hoping the more we sell, the more we need people to help move and sell and merchandise the product. So as long as we’re growing, we’ll be making sure we’ll be growing our population as well,” said Heinemann.

Coke says it’s working with the federal government to try to find a solution to the tariff issue – in the meantime, it’s pressing ahead with business in the meantime.

WATCH MORE: Canadian businesses weather U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs