Chick-fil-A, one of the nation’s leading quick service restaurant companies, will locate a major distribution center in Alamance County, part of the larger region known as the Carolina Core, investing an estimated $52 million to build the new facility, Governor Roy Cooper announced. The project, part of Chick-fil-A Supply®, the company’s new distribution service focused on supplying food and products to its restaurants, will create 160 jobs at the North Carolina Industrial Center in Mebane. It is scheduled to open in early 2022.
"North Carolina attracts the nation’s most well-known brands because of our strong workforce and steady leadership, even in a crisis,” said Governor Cooper. "Alamance County is the right location with the right infrastructure to make Chick-Fil-A's new approach to the restaurant’s supply chain a success.”
Chick-fil-A, Inc. is one of the nation’s largest privately held restaurant companies. The chain, founded in 1967, is known for its original chicken sandwich and serves customers freshly prepared food in more than 2,600 restaurants in 47 states, Washington, D.C. and Canada. While enjoying strong continuing growth, the company has also faced an increasingly complex logistics challenge to keep up with demand. In 2019, the company launched a new approach to distribute ingredients and products to its restaurants, creating Chick-fil-A Supply, LLC, its own distribution company. A wholly owned subsidiary of Chick-fil-A, Inc., Chick-fil-A Supply helps address Chick-fil-A restaurants’ unique needs, such as frequent, high-volume deliveries in challenging delivery environments. The company’s facility in Mebane within the Carolina Core will be its second permanent, full-scale distribution center, joining the first full-scale facility near the company’s headquarters in Georgia.
“Building Chick-fil-A Supply’s next distribution center in North Carolina allows us to support the incredible growth of the area,” said Josh Grote, senior director, Chick-fil-A Supply. “Specifically, Mebane provides great access to talent and is in close proximity to major transit routes, enabling us to best serve our customers: Chick-fil-A franchised Operators, licensees, and their teams.”
“North Carolina offers the top business climate in the United States,” said North Carolina Commerce Secretary Anthony M. Copeland. “Chick-fil-A Supply’s decision to locate this important new operations center in our state demonstrates that corporations recognize the many advantages of doing business here.”
Although wages will vary by job position, the aggregate, minimum average salary will reach $62,429, bringing a payroll impact of $10.1 million to the region each year. The current average wage in Alamance County is $41,611.
Chick-fil-A Supply’s project in North Carolina will be facilitated, in part, by a Job Development Investment Grant (JDIG) approved by the state’s Economic Investment Committee earlier today. Over the course of the 12-year term of this grant, the project is estimated to grow the state’s economy by nearly $389 million. Using a formula that takes into account the new tax revenues generated by the new jobs, the JDIG agreement authorizes the potential reimbursement to the company of up to $1,562,400, spread over 12 years.
State payments only occur following performance verification by the departments of Commerce and Revenue that the company has met its incremental job creation and investment targets. JDIG projects result in positive net tax revenue to the state treasury, even after taking into consideration the grant’s reimbursement payments to a given company.
Chick-fil-A Supply’s JDIG agreement also could move as much as $173,600 into the state’s Industrial Development Fund – Utility Account for use by rural communities elsewhere in the state. The Utility Account helps finance necessary infrastructure upgrades in more economically challenged areas of the state to attract future business to those locations.
Partnering with the North Carolina Department of Commerce and the Economic Development Partnership of N.C. on this project were the North Carolina General Assembly, the North Carolina Community College System, Duke Energy, Alamance County, the City of Mebane, the Alamance County Economic Development Foundation, and the Alamance Chamber of Commerce.