Workforce Wins: Attracting New Employees to Meet Demand with Bellisio Foods

Challenge: In 2022, Bellisio Foods, the nation's third-largest producer of single-serve frozen entrees, invested $40 million to expand its production facility in Southeast Ohio to meet the demand for its products nationwide. With a company expansion underway, the company faced a workforce deficit and needed support in hiring more than 170 employees to ensure the additional production lines would be fully operational.

Solution: Bellisio Foods enlisted JobsOhio, Ohio’s private economic development corporation, to help by utilizing the JobsOhio Talent Acquisition Services incentive to support the company's overall talent strategy. The program was custom-tailored to the company’s needs, which included raising overall awareness of the Bellisio Foods brand, attracting new production workers, and offering training programs to support the retention of existing employees. Tactics to support the company’s talent strategy included:

• Developing a strong employee value proposition, refreshing brand assets, redesigning the company’s career landing page, and implementing a marketing campaign with digital, radio, and out-of-home advertising.
• Deploying an industry-specific job posting campaign to help drive volume for focused positions and identify the most compatible talent.
• Revamping training resources to accelerate learning for new hires and creating leadership training to boost career growth opportunities.

Lasting Impact: The marketing campaign helped raise awareness about the Bellisio Foods brand, with over 7 million impressions and 70K clicks across all tactics. Furthermore, the job posting campaign helped the company garner 870+ qualified applications to fill its open positions. Eight interactive videos were created as part of the company’s revamped training program, and 70 employees received leadership training during the initial deployment. The company achieved its hiring goals in support of the newly expanded facility and remains committed to boosting employee retention with its new training resources.

Ready to tap into Ohio’s workforce and grow your business? Let’s do it together. Take the first step by contacting JobsOhio’s talent experts at JobsOhio.com/ContactTalent