Smokey Mountain Coffee

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, a Waterbury, Vt.-based company that is considering an expansion in Knox County. Green Mountain already has announced plans to buy a building in the Forks of the River Industrial Park, outlining a proposal to invest $55 million in a packaging and distribution operation that could eventually provide 360 new jobs.

This is how it is done in Tennessee.  Of course, the thing is not a done deal.  There are other competitors out there, particularly North Carolina, another state blessed with beautiful mountains.

The expansion is not a done deal and Green Mountain is watching to see what kind of incentive package is available. Doug Lawyer, economic development director for the Knoxville Chamber, told the committee that Green Mountain had looked at other communities, specifically mentioning Middle Tennessee and Winston-Salem, N.C.  That prompted some consternation from committee member David Swanner, who fretted that the Tar Heel state "if they want to, will just blow us out of the water."

No mention of  Vermont.  Wonder why.

Comments

[Sandy Yusen]

I work at Green Mountain Coffee and wanted to respond to your question about our expansion in the southeast:

First of all, it’s important to mention that we are expanding in Vermont as well. We have a track record of growth here in Vermont that we intend to continue. In our fiscal 2007, we installed new production lines in our Waterbury plant and trained new staff to run them. In September 2007, we brought a second manufacturing site online in Essex, VT, which doubled our annual capacity. And we have just signed a lease on a second site in Essex that will serve as a supplemental facility for our call center.

We are exploring a southeast location because as our business expands into new markets, it becomes more efficient to distribute our products from a central geographic location. A new facility in the southeast would reduce our distribution costs and shorten the delivery lead times of our products. By growing in other regions, we can be more competitive, which helps to ensure the long-term health of our company and our employees here in Vermont.