King’s Hawaiian -- the maker of sweet dinner rolls -- will open a bakery and distribution center in Hall County, Gov. Sonny Perdue announced late Tuesday.
The decision by the Torrance, Calif.-based roll-maker will create 126 new jobs over two years, and potentially another 100 jobs in 2015. The 111,000-square-foot bakery and distribution center facility will be in Oakwood South Industrial Park. Production is expected to begin in the facility in the fall of 2011. Georgia competed against South Carolina for the facility, according to the Georgia Department of Economic Development which helped recruit the company. Georgia offered $2.7 million in job tax credits and sales tax exemption on machinery, the agency said.
“Georgia’s economy receives a considerable boost from the success of food processors in our state, which employ more Georgians than any other sector of manufacturing,” or nearly 70,000 people, Perdue said in a press release.
The economic development agency said Georgia has more than 600 food processing companies, making it the state’s leading manufacturing sector. In the last five years, 40 new or expanding companies located to the state.
Sales of King’s Hawaiian bread account for more than half of U.S. dinner roll sales, according to Perdue's office. The breads are sold in supermarkets and served in restaurants nationwide. King's Hawaiian, founded 60 years ago in Hilo, Hawaii by the Taira family, also has several restaurants, though the company currently doesn't plan one for Hall County. The company's headquarters moved to California 40 years ago.
Applicants interested in employment opportunities with King’s Hawaiian should register at the Georgia Department of Labor’s Gainesville Career Center.
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