New Facility in Saskatoon Supports Growing Demand
Drake Meats began in a small Saskatchewan community and grew the humble way, by earning a place at the family dinner table. The company is still family-owned, now into a fourth generation, and its best-known products read like a roll call of tradition: sausage, bacon and hams.
“Quality is the most important thing,” Executive Chair Cam Johnson said. “Those recipes have been around forever, and they’re not going to change.” What is changing is scale. To meet demand and reliably serve more retailers, Drake is building a new federally inspected facility in Saskatoon. It’s a modern plant that lifts throughput while maintaining the consistency and craft standards that made the brand what it is.
The mandate is simple: same products, same customers, available in more stores. The result is tangible. More availability for shoppers, hundreds of skilled jobs over time, and a stronger Saskatchewan footprint in national food supply.
This is a family story first. Four generations in, Drake’s promise hasn’t shifted: make food you’d serve your own family. The recipes are tested by time; the trust was earned one grocery trip, one weekend breakfast, one holiday roast at a time.
“We’re an interesting size… we still retain that craft side of what we do,” Johnson said. Which is why the expansion isn’t a reinvention. It’s confidence, built on steady demand and a clear read on what customers want, to scale, without losing the soul of the business.
The new plant gives Drake the room to do what it already does well, at a level that meets national programs. Federal inspection unlocks interprovincial trade at scale. Modern lines increase output, and because the products don’t change, the benefits are felt where it matters.
About 40 Saskatoon employees will transition to the new facility, with the headcount expected to grow to around 200 as production ramps. Small businesses such as Drake Meats create jobs and opportunities, ensuring Saskatchewan continues to build resilient and vibrant communities for years to come.
Growth brings new opportunities for people, too. As production scales over the next three years, Drake will build out skilled teams across food safety, machine operations, process and automation engineering, maintenance, IT support, and customer service. These are roles that deepen expertise on the plant floor and open careers for the next generation close to home.
The Drake story also illustrates a bigger truth about the province. If you want to build, scale, and export from the Prairies, Saskatchewan is a smart place to do so. The province backs ambition with clear, practical support that helps companies like Drake turn proven demand into sustainable growth. A strong and vibrant value-added sector helps diversify Saskatchewan’s economy, contributes to gross domestic product, and attracts additional investment. Drake’s next chapter shows that in action. More finished, branded food made here—not just raw inputs that are shipped away and processed elsewhere.
That support has been steady and concrete. Over the years, the Government of Saskatchewan has provided funding to the business to strengthen quality and capacity. Add in consistent, two-way communication to ensure funding meets real needs, and you get a partnership that works. Taken together, these supports have helped sustain and create well over fifty roles at Drake to date, and the company continues to rely on them to recruit and retain the people who will run the next chapter.
For the consumer, the pitch is wonderfully unremarkable: you’ll find more of what you already love, more consistently, in more places. For the province, the upside is structural. Saskatchewan is famous for primary production. The next chapter is owning the higher-value steps like processing, packaging, and brand building. This, in turn, leads to higher economic output, as well as talent retention, while Saskatchewan products are shipped nationwide. That’s diversification you can taste.
Drake’s expansion is less a change of course than a widening of the road. The people behind the label—parents, neighbours, the next generation learning the craft—get to build their future here in the province. And that’s a story worth telling: a Saskatchewan original scaling up, staying true, and proving that when a family brand grows, communities grow with it.
For more information, contact:
Media Relations
Trade and Export Development
Regina
Phone: 306-526-6302
Email: media.ted@gov.sk.ca
