Lawmakers tout $83,070 state grant to Numa Foods
HARRISBURG >> Local lawmakers announced the state’s Commonwealth Financing Authority board approved a grant of $83,070 for Lansdale’s Numa Foods LLC on Wednesday.
“State money is headed back to our community to directly assist Numa Foods in a six-figure expansion of its Lansdale Borough facility,” said state Rep. Steve Malagari, D-53rd.
“This grant will not only improve the output of the Lansdale facility but also improve its efficiency,” he said.
Numa Foods is a Lansdale-based business started by a mother and daughter which specializes in chewy candies, based on traditional Chinese recipes, according to the company’s website.
The name Numa comes from the Chinese characters for the words for daughter (nu) and mother (ma) named after founders Joyce and Jane Zhu. The business originated as handmade food in their kitchen in 2017, then grew to an online store in 2018, followed by a crowdfunded project on web platform Kickstarter that successfully raised over $14,000 from donors by early 2019, according to the company’s “About Us” profile and Kickstarter page. The business is now located in the Lansdale Business Center at 650 N. Cannon Ave., according to Malagari’s office.
Numa Foods earned the grant through the Pennsylvania Dairy Investment Program, a program established in 2019 when Gov. Tom Wolf signed Act 38 into law with a number of other bills, a group of laws commonly referred to as the Pennsylvania Farm Bill.
“It’s an honor to see a bill I voted for in the House have a direct and positive impact in our community less than a year later,” Malagari said about Act 38.
The grant will help offset a $103,950 expansion project by Numa Foods to purchase and install several pieces of milk processing equipment. The new equipment includes two 80-quart mixers, a cutting machine, a pouch-filling machine, a packaging machine and two sugar-boiling systems.
The expansion and new equipment will allow the facility to produce
22,500 pieces of its milkbased nougat snacks per hour, compared to its former output of 4,500 pieces per hour. The facility will also increase the output of its dairy products, including butter and whole milk powder, to 375 pounds per shift as compared to its former output of 75 pounds per shift, according to announcements from Malagari and state Sen. Bob Mensch, R-24th.
“I am happy to see a local farm be presented with funding that will not only allow for a higher productivity rate, but one that is also more efficient,” Mensch said Wednesday.
“This grant to Numa Foods LLC is key for continuous success for the business and the economy as a whole,” Mensch said.
For more information about Numa Foods visit www.NumaFoods.com, search for “Numa Foods” on Facebook or follow @NumaFoods on Twitter.