The Project will create 95 full-time equivalent (“FTE”) jobs over three shifts and will retain 183 positions, of which 93% will be accessible to low-income individuals possessing a high school diploma or less. It is anticipated that at least 65% of the jobs will be filled by low-income persons and community residents, and 74% of employees will be persons of color. All employees will have access to a suite of benefits that include – medical, dental, vision, and life insurance, Flexible Spending Account, 401(k) retirement plan, profit sharing and an Employee Stock Ownership Program (“ESOP”).
Highland Bakery has a keen focus on workforce development and offers a myriad of opportunities for employees to improve their skills.
To assist with Highland Baking Company’s (the Project Sponsor) product expansion, Urban Action Community Development (UACD) provided $7MM in Round 18 NMTC allocation to support its new production line. Founded in 1984 in Northbrook, IL, Highland Bakery is a 2nd generation family-owned company that produces and distributes fresh and frozen bread products to food service operations (primarily fast-food and quick serve companies) and food distributors throughout the United States. When Highland Baking was launched, its primary product was pretzels and then it started making frozen breads for a popular restaurant. Now the company has expanded its product lines (80% frozen breads and 20% fresh breads) to include hamburger and hot dog buns, ciabatta, hoagies, dinner rolls, and artisan breads. To address supply chain challenges along the East Coast and Southeastern regions of the country, Highland Bakery opened a new plant in Spartanburg, SC in 2012. The company purchased an existing bakery plant and launched operations. In the last 10 years, the Spartanburg location has grown to include two production lines that primarily focus on middle market bread offerings. The current business environment and related consolidation in the baking industry is requiring Highland Bakery to offer lower quality bread categories for its customers to supplement its existing mid-tier offerings. Therefore, to meet customer demand and remain competitive, a third production line (the Project) must be added. The NMTCs will be used to purchase and install new equipment to expand bread production for mini, hamburger, and hot dog buns. This will allow Highland Bakery to operate three distinct production lines, and it ensures the Spartanburg plant remains a growing concern and key employer in the region.
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