Condiment maker to invest $103M in Georgia, adding 70 jobs

MCDONOUGH, Ga. - A Massachusetts-based food manufacturer will invest $103 million to expand and consolidate its operations in Georgia.

Ken’s Foods announced Thursday that it would add 70 new jobs to its current 500 in McDonough, south of Atlanta. The privately held company makes more than 400 varieties of dressings, sauces and marinades under its own label and for other brands.

The company will shift a support location to a new building across the street from its main campus. The move will eliminate the need to run 40 trucks a day from the current support facility. The investment also includes upgrading production lines at the current main campus.

The company plans to complete the work in early 2022. It’s one of a series of expansions since Ken’s opened its first facility in Georgia in 1997. In 2010, Ken’s had 330 employees in Henry County, county financial statements show.

Ken’s will qualify for a Georgia state income tax credit that allows the company to deduct $3,500 per job from its income taxes for five years. If Ken’s doesn’t incur $1.23 million in state income taxes, it can also use the credit to get cash payments redirected to it out of the money it withholds from employee paychecks for state income taxes, since it’s in what the state classifies as a less-developed area.

The state will also pay to train workers.

Marie Hodge Gordon, a spokesperson for the Georgia Department of Economic Development, said final arrangements aren’t complete yet for other possible incentives, which could include cash given from the state to local governments to improve infrastructure, and property tax breaks given by local governments.

Gordon was unable to answer how much Ken’s will pay the new workers.

The company is based in Marlborough, Massachusetts, and has other facilities in Las Vegas and Lebanon, Indiana.