HUMONGOUS AMOUNTS OF HUMMUS

FROM THE TRIBUNE OF SAN LUIS OBISPO

RICHMOND, Va. — Hummus maker Sabra Dipping Co. is expanding its Virginia operations and is naming a new CEO.

The U.S. and Canadian joint venture between Strauss Group and PepsiCo Inc. said Monday that it plans to open the expanded facility in Chesterfield County next month, doubling its production capacity and creating 70 jobs in 2015.

It also named Shali Shalit-Shoval as its new CEO, replacing Ronen Zohar, who retired last month. Shalit-Shoval most recently served as the company’s chief marketing officer.

The New York-based company first opened its factory in Virginia in mid-2010 and now makes 4,000 tons of hummus there monthly. Hummus — a combination of pureed chickpeas and spices — has moved beyond the ethnic food niche and solidly into the American mainstream during the past decade, filling supermarket refrigerator cases and showing up on restaurant menus nationwide.

Sabra’s products include hummus with vegetables and spices like spinach, artichoke, garlic and red pepper, as well as other vegetable dips and salads. It holds 65 percent of the refrigerated flavored dips category.

With the latest expansion, Sabra has invested more than $155 million in its Virginia operations and employs more than 500 people at the factory and a research and development facility that opened last year.

On Monday, the company also opened Sabra Hummus House, a pop-up restaurant in Washington, D.C., that will be open through Oct. 26 and will feature the company’s products.

Sabra started in 1986 when Yehuda Pearl ran the company out of a small kitchen in New York. Strauss Group purchased a majority of Sabra in 2005. It formed the joint venture with PepsiCo in March 2008 after Ofra Strauss, who chairs the Strauss board, brought a picnic basket into the office of PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi to discuss the partnership.