A massive expansive of the Schwan’s Company’s pizza plant will in part, be covered by a grant through the United State government.

U.S. Senator from Kan., Jerry Moran, and Salina Vice Mayor, Dr. Trent Davis, were among the many dignitaries on hand at the Schwan’s construction site for the announcement on Friday morning.

Salina has been awarded a $3.8 million grant from the U.S. Economic Development Administration. The grant funding is being put forth in to a 400,000 square foot expansion of the Tony’s Pizza Plant in Salina. With the expansion, Tony’s–a Schwan’s division–looks to add 225 skilled jobs with the goal of helping the company produce 100 million more pizzas per year.

Senior Director of Manufacturing with Schwan’s Company, Chris Wiseman, tells KSAL News that the new jobs being added require some skilled labor.

Currently, Schwan’s houses a 550,000 square foot production facility that employs 1,125 people. The expansion from the EDA grant will include automated state-of-the-art pizza production lines, shipping and receiving docks and more office space. The 225 new jobs are expected to be in place by 2023. Meanwhile, construction has already begun at Schwan’s and they anticipate being ready to unveil the finished expansion by Dec., 2022.