Ben E. Keith, a major national food and beverage distribution company, plans to invest $100 million to open an advanced foodservice distribution center in Coffee County.
The announcement was made Wednesday by Governor Kay Ivey.
The new facility, which will also serve as the company’s southeast regional headquarters, is expected to create 80 direct jobs over the next five years and provide an economic boost to New Brockton, a town of approximately 1,100 people.
Additionally, Ben E. Keith plans to expand its existing manufacturing facilities at Kelley Foods, located in nearby Elba.
“We welcome the decision by Ben E. Keith, one of the nation’s largest family owned distribution companies, to significantly expand its presence in Alabama with a new, state-of-the-art facility in Coffee County,” Ivey said in a statement.
“The investment in the New Brockton facility will not only create good jobs in that community but also provide a springboard for this first-rate company to continue to grow in Alabama,” she added.
Fort Worth, Texas-based Ben E. Keith’s new Alabama facility will span 425,000 square feet and will be designed to accommodate future expansions up to 1 million square feet, positioning the company to expand its distribution activities in the southeast.
Established in 1906, Ben E. Keith Foods is the nation’s eighth largest broad line foodservice distributor and operates today with eight divisions shipping to 15 states throughout the country.
The company entered Alabama in 2016, when it acquired Elba’s Kelley Foods, a homegrown business dating back to 1957. That operation today has 230 workers.
“When we acquired Kelley Foods in 2016, we saw it as our gateway to expand in the southeast to better serve new and existing customers and to uncover new opportunities,” Mike Sweet, president of Ben E. Keith Foods, advised. “We are deeply committed to the communities of Alabama in which we live, work and serve, and we look forward to many more years of shared success.”
Construction on the facility in New Brockton will begin by December 2019, with a completion date by December 2021. Ben E. Keith Foods continues to expand its market area in the southeast and the added capacity will allow it to better service customers, while staying committed to the local community.
“Alabama can offer distribution companies an extensive infrastructure network and a highly motivated workforce to make their operations a success,” Alabama Department of Commerce Secretary Greg Canfield explained.
“We consider it an economic development priority to recruit job-creating projects in the state’s rural counties, so we’re thrilled that a high-performance company like Ben E. Keith has selected Coffee County for a project with substantial growth potential,” he concluded.
Sean Ross is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn
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