Haagen-Dazs and Tombstone pizza distributor plans new Hauppauge home

A distributor of Haagen-Dazs ice cream and Tombstone and DiGiorno frozen pizza in the metropolitan area wants to construct a headquarters and warehouse in Hauppauge, officials said on Tuesday.

E&M Logistics Inc., based in the Bronx, plans to replace 380 Oser Ave. with a building more than double the size. The $13.4 million project will include installation of a larger freezer.

The company was awarded $1.3 million in tax breaks by the Suffolk County Industrial Development Agency on Tuesday, including $714,777 off property taxes over 15 years, or a 26.5% savings.

Daniel S. Dornfeld, E&M’s real state attorney, told a meeting of the IDA board that the company had considered putting the new HQ and warehouse at 200 Crossways Park Dr. W. in Woodbury, a parcel it now plans to sell.

E&M also rents two buildings in the Bronx and one in Hicksville, Dornfeld said.

The company employs 249 people in the metro area and has promised to bring 85 jobs to Hauppauge within two years in return for IDA aid. Employees earn $55,208, on average, records show.

Additional jobs will be created by the "sub-distributors" who will pick up food from the warehouse for delivery to stores, said Martin Kelly, who founded E&M in 2003.

"I think we’re not only going to bring jobs, I think we’re going to create [sub-distribution] businesses" in the Hauppauge area, he told the IDA board.

Besides ice cream and frozen pizza, Kelly said E&M provides stores with milk, juices, fresh fruit and dry goods. "We’re in every supermarket, drug store, deli and bodega in New York. ... We’ve grown a lot outside of ice cream," he said.

In September, Kelly sold a controlling interest in E&M to the private equity firm Mill Point Capital LLC in Manhattan. Earlier this month, Mill Point Capital invested in Jack & Jill, a food and beverage distributor in Moorestown, New Jersey, whose operations complement those of E&M, executives at the private equity firm said in an announcement.

In Hauppauge, the property being purchased by E&M is owned by Deliver My Meds Corp., a distributor of prescription drugs.

Deliver My Meds won IDA tax breaks in 2018 to buy and renovate the 20,600-square-foot building. Because the company is now selling the building, it must repay the $100,000 in tax aid that it has received so far, according to IDA executive director Anthony J. Catapano.

Shahbaz Chaudhary started Deliver My Meds after operating four retail pharmacies in Syosset, Valley Stream and Brooklyn. He didn’t return a voicemail seeking comment on Tuesday.

IDA board member Brian Beedenbender said E&M, even with the tax aid, will pay $30,000 more in property taxes in the project’s first year than the full tax bill on the existing building, which is $62,000 per year.

Suffolk County is "getting a much bigger building and a higher tax base," he said.

By James T. Madore

james.madore@newsday.comJamesTMadore

James T. Madore writes about Long Island business news including the economy, development, and the relationship between government and business. He previously served as Albany bureau chief.