PHOENIX — Café Valley Bakery will break ground March 23 on a new, $40 million, 285,950-square-foot bakery facility. The plant will nearly double distribution and production space, allowing the company to triple production, once it is fully operational at the beginning of 2011, Café Valley said. The company provides thaw-and-sell baked foods distributed in more than 30,000 retail, club and food service outlets throughout the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico.

“We pride ourselves on our innovative products and believe our research and development group has been the catalyst for our significant growth in the last few years,” said Ron Ogan, president and chief executive officer, Café Valley.

The new facility, which is expected to create 200 additional jobs over the next five years, will house a 4,310-square-foot innovation center. According to Café Valley, the center will improve speed-to-market and deliver new trend-driven products. In addition, the center will feature a product review area that will allow customers to share ideas while providing a technical resource that will develop innovative new product to drive business.

The new facility will replace the company’s current 106,000-square-foot plant in Phoenix.

Founded in 1982, Café Valley offers a variety of products, including fully baked croissants, bundt cakes, ring cakes, specialty cakes, mini muffins, large muffins, cinnamon rolls, cinna twists, Danish and puff pastries.