Albuquerque-Today Governor Susana Martinez welcomed California-based food producer Flagship Food Group to Albuquerque as they expand to New Mexico. New Mexico Economic Development Department (EDD) Cabinet Secretary Jon Barela, Albuquerque Mayor Richard J. Berry, Bernalillo
County, Albuquerque Economic Development, and company representatives joined Governor Martinez for the announcement.
"We are proud of Flagship Food Group becoming our latest partner in growing our private-sector economy," said Governor Martinez. "We are working hard to promote growth and attract new investments, and our business environment is becoming much more competitive as a result of these reforms."
Flagship plans to hire 155 employees in Albuquerque over the next year, with an additional 145 over the next few years, for a total of 300. These positions will have an average annual salary of nearly $30,000. Additionally, Flagship buys more than 2.5 million pounds of New Mexico's famous Hatch Green Chile annually.
"We look forward to our New Mexico expansion, as New Mexico has an extremely talented workforce and newly improved tax climate for manufacturing and exporting," said Rob Holland, CEO of Flagship
Food Group. "Gov. Martinez, Secretary Barela, Mayor Berry and the Bernalillo County Commissioners have shown a genuine interest in our company and we are thrilled to be in this state."
In June, Governor Martinez also announced that Franco Whole Foods, another Southern California food producer, is expanding to Las Cruces.
Another California manufacturer, DHF Technical Products, just relocated to Rio Rancho. In Santa Teresa, Southwest Steel Coil, a California steel manufacturer, has more than doubled their workforce in New Mexico because of the state's increasingly business-friendly policies, which have become more competitive than California's. Even international manufacturers are taking notice, with two recently setting up shop New Mexico, one from Germany and one from Turkey.
And New Mexico family-run manufacturing businesses from Farmington to Los Lunas to Santa Fe are significantly expanding their businesses because of our tax reforms.