Utah: Bringing Home the Bacon

Pete CodellaNews

The Governor’s Office of Economic Development, (GOED) and Nature Food Products (NFP) announced today the opening of a new facility based in Utah that will create 200+ new jobs.

“The expansion into Utah by Nature Food Products shows the great strengths that Utah possesses not only in location, but also in infrastructure and workforce,” Spencer Eccles, Executive Director, GOED said. “These new manufacturing facilities will strengthen Utah’s economy, and support Utah’s progress as a global agricultural business destination.”

Nature Food Products is an advanced food processing facility with plans to be a fully transparent meat company that specializes in producing safe, humanely handled, high quality foods for consumers. The demand for food products that meet these requirements and expectations is growing rapidly and the Utah Nature Food Products facility will service those demands.

“Nature Food Products is excited to be partnering with the State of Utah, regional, and local governments. This is an incredible opportunity for Nature Food Products and the State of Utah. We look forward to a thriving and successful long-term partnership with the state and community. Additionally, Nature Food Products would like to thank the State of Utah and GOED for assisting us through the process and providing an incentive to locate and develop a new facility in Utah.” Steven Lau, NFP partner.

Over the 10-year life of the agreement with the state, the company expects to pay more than $90 million in new state wages. During that same time period NFP will pay approximately $6 million in new state taxes and will invest over $20 million in initial capital expansion at the Utah based facilities. The company is considering several locations in rural Utah but a specific location has not yet been announced. All of the intended jobs will pay at least 100 percent of the county’s average annual wage including benefits.

“We are pleased to see Nature Food Products’ commitment to expand to Utah,” says Jeff Edwards, President and CEO of Economic Development Corporation of Utah. “The company will be a great addition to our growing and vibrant manufacturing community.”

As part of a contract with NFP, the GOED Board of Directors has approved a maximum cap tax credit of $1,397,452 in the form of a post-performance Economic Development Tax Increment Finance (EDTIF) incentive, which is 20 percent of the net taxes NFP will pay over the 10 year life of the agreement. Each year as NFP meets the criteria in its contract with the state, it will earn a portion of the tax credit incentive.