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A home-grown northern Utah company will receive a $520,000 incentive from the Governor's Office of Economic Development board to expand its food-products manufacturing operations.
Honeyville Inc. will get the post-performance tax rebate to grow its operations, said GOED spokesman Michael Sullivan, and is looking at several locations around the state, including the possibility of expanding its plant in the Box Elder County town whose name it shares.
The rebate is 20 percent of the $2.6 million in new state taxes the company expects to generate in the agreement's eight-year lifespan.
During that time, said company president Ed Hemphill, Honeyville Inc. will invest $23 million into its facility and create 115 new jobs paying, collectively, 110 percent of the average county wage.
Those wages are calculated to add up to $36 million.
"Any expansion of the state's manufacturing industry is cause for celebration," said GOED Executive Director Val Hale. "It's especially exciting to see such major growth happening for a local, family-owned company."
In 1950, Lowell Sherratt Sr. started the company in the southwestern Utah town of Parowan. Eventually he headed north and set up shop in Honeyville, changing the company's name to Honeyville Inc.
His son, Lowell Jr., now oversees the operation, which has expanded to include private label co-packing, mixing/blending, grain milling, heat treatment and the wholesale distribution of ingredients and consumer products.
Besides its Utah headquarters, the firm has offices in California, Arizona and Ohio.
Hemphill said the company gave "careful consideration" to where this expansion should take place before settling on Honeyville.
"Utah has an outstanding workforce, has established a balanced regulatory environment and is a great location for employees to thrive and enjoy a high quality of life," he said, adding the state is also ideally located to deliver products to Western states.
Jeff Edwards, president and CEO of the Economic Development Corp. of Utah, was thrilled GOED could help "a great homegrown company" build the state's job base.
"Utah is the best place to start, grow and expand a business," he said. "Nobody knows that better than the companies who have experienced that first hand."