New Kerry Headquarters Retains 800 Jobs, Creates 250 Jobs
Contact: Carla Vigue, Office of the Governor, 608-261-2162
BELOIT – Governor Jim Doyle today joined with business and community leaders in Beloit to celebrate the grand opening of Kerry America’s Centre of Excellence $50 million expansion project. Governor Doyle has worked closely with Kerry Americas to help the company expand in Wisconsin. The project will create 250 new jobs and retain 800 jobs in Beloit.
”In September 2007, I was here in Beloit to break ground on the Kerry Centre of Excellence, and today it’s really great to be here to celebrate many years of hard work,” Governor Doyle said. “Today’s grand opening shows that when we support good, Wisconsin businesses and their workers, we can keep our state home to some of the greatest and most promising businesses in the world.”
Kerry America’s new Centre of Excellence will house the company’s technologies and application center, as well as research and development labs, all at one location – providing a site where customers can access all of the company’s work and research. Governor Doyle announced the project in April 2007, along with $6 million to support Kerry’s growth in Beloit and keep the company from expanding and creating new jobs out of state. The City of Beloit provided $4.7 million to improve infrastructure in the area as the company grows.
Kerry Americas – part of Kerry Group with global headquarters in Ireland – is a world leader in food production, sales and marketing. The company employees 20,000 people across Europe, North America, South America, Australia, New Zealand and Asia, and supplies more than 15,000 food products for consumers in more than 140 countries. Kerry enhances raw materials for food ingredients and flavors, including cheese, chocolate, granola clusters and a wide array of food seasonings.
