Lollicup USA, a disposable foodservice packaging products producer, announced its plans to develop a new manufacturing facility in Rockwall, Texas, US, in July 2017. The company is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Karat Packaging (dba Karat® by Lollicup™).
Built with an investment of $50m, the facility manufactures paper and plastic cups, as well as other food containers. It enables the company to meet the needs of regional customers and increase production capacity.
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The land development deal for the project was signed in July 2017 and the facility was opened in June 2019.
Location details of Lollicup manufacturing facility
Lollicup USA’s manufacturing facility is located on a 34.23-acre site in the phase two development of the Rockwall Technology Park.
The 400-acre park offers ready-to-build sites, utilities and common area landscaping. It also offers easy access to five interstates, infrastructure and a skilled workforce.
Lollicup USA manufacturing facility construction and design details
The manufacturing facility covers an area of 650,000ft², which includes 27,000ft² of office space. The building features tilt-up concrete wall panels and a 32ft-high steel structure. The concrete wall panels are made of natural stone and anodised aluminium and feature a tinted glass curtainwall.
Construction of the building required 209 24in piers, 650,000ft² of 7in slab-on-grade and 150,549ft² of tilt wall panels, as well as 68 dock leveller pits.
The roof of the building features a steel deck made of R-20 rigid insulation, covered by a thermoplastic polyolefin membrane. The facility also features 66 overhead loading dock doors and three drive-in doors.
The facility is installed with Koenig & Bauer’s Flexotecnica Evo XG press, which is equipped with a number of automated features. The press offers improved printing widths and higher printing speeds that help to increase efficiency and productivity.
It is also equipped with a high-precision solid print deck, which features anti-vibration components that provide flexibility when printing at high speeds.
The facility includes a front lobby, a sales floor, six conference rooms, a break room, a server room, storage facilities and a kitchen. The office area of the facility includes a café featuring indoor and outdoor dining patio facilities for employees.
Lollicup USA products
Lollicup USA manufactures its disposable products under two brands, namely Karat® and Karat Earth®.
The Karat® brand includes a wide range of high-quality disposable food and beverage products such as cups, containers and utensils while the Karat Earth brand offers similar products made of renewable materials.
Other products include cup accessories, deli containers, injection moulded bowls, plastic hinged containers, food buckets, paper food trays, fold-to-go containers, food pails, aluminium containers, take-out bags, deli wrap sheets, spoons, forks and napkins.
The company also provides custom print services at the Rockwall site.
Contractors involved
The general contractor for the project was Clayco, an engineering, design-build and construction company based in the US.
The manufacturing facility was designed by engineering and consulting company Bates & Associates Architects while the landscape architect was Forum Studio, a subsidiary of Clayco. The two companies merged in 2018 to form BatesForum.
In 2019, Clayco combined its design practice with BatesForum to form Lamar Johnson Collaborative, a design and architecture firm.
Kent Companies, a full-service concrete contractor, was subcontracted by Clayco for concrete work.
Freese & Nichols, a planning, consulting and engineering firm, was the civil engineer for the project. The company was responsible for the complete civil engineering design of the project, including coordination with the city council, drainage system design, fire protection, and paving and grading design.
Koenig & Bauer, a supplier of printing presses based in Germany, was contracted in August 2018 to supply its Flexotecnica Evo XG press for the new facility.
Marketing commentary on Lollicup USA
Founded in 2000, Lollicup USA was established to open bubble tea business stores across the US. The tea business was sold in 2013 to focus on the production of packaging products and supplies. The company became a subsidiary of Karat Packaging in 2018.
Karat Packaging currently operates from five locations in the US, including California, Texas, Washington, South Carolina, and New Jersey. The company manufactures disposable food and beverage products, high-quality drink and dessert ingredients and professional-grade cleaning products.
