Minnesota-based cereal maker Malt-O-Meal Co. will open a manufacturing facility in Asheboro. The expansion into North Carolina, made possible in part by a Job Development Investment Grant, will create 164 jobs over the next six years and an investment of $104 million by the company.
Malt-O-Meal plans to move into the building being vacated by Unilever Best Foods. Unilever made dried food products there until it closed in August, laying off 150 workers.
Malt-O-Meal products are distributed throughout the United States through a network of warehouses. The products are shipped by truck directly from plants in Minnesota and Utah to regional distribution centers in Minnesota, Tennessee and Utah. Company officials decided that a manufacturing facility in the eastern part of the nation would enable it to provide better customer service and reduce distribution costs.
"Choosing North Carolina was a pretty easy decision for us once we stacked up all the evidence and reviewed our criteria such as central location within the eastern seaboard, the skilled labor force available in the greater Asheboro area and the No.1 ranking of the state's business climate in Site Selection magazine," said John Lettmann, CEO of the Malt-O-Meal Co.
More than 25 million families a year eat Malt-O-Meal cereals. The company also makes private-label cereals for supermarket chains.
The new jobs, which will be mainly production positions, will pay an average yearly salary of $36,000 not including benefits, which is significantly higher than the Randolph County average of $27,500, not including benefits.
The state's Economic Investment Committee earlier today voted unanimously to award a JDIG grant to the company to facilitate this project. Under the terms of the JDIG agreement approved by the committee, a 10-year grant will be established.
For each year that the company meets the required performance targets, the state will provide a grant equal to 60 percent of the state personal income withholding taxes derived from the creation of new jobs. If the company creates all of the jobs called for under the agreement and sustains them for 10 years, Malt-O-Meal could receive a maximum benefit of $1.09 million.
Job Development Investment Grants are awarded only to new and expanding businesses and industrial projects whose benefits exceed the costs to the state and which would not be undertaken in North Carolina without the grant. Since the first grant was awarded in 2003, the program has been responsible for creating more than 19,000 jobs and $2.5 billion in investment in North Carolina.
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