by Jon Styf
Bridgetown Natural Foods is receiving $1.3 million through incenctives for its $78.3 million manufacturing and distribution facility in Tennessee.
The project in Lebanon is being awarded a FastTrack Job Training Assistance Grant that was not disclosed Wednesday and was first listed without a project name by the State Funding Board.
FastTrack grants are state grants sent to companies to help offset the costs of expanding or moving into the state with the goal of increasing the number of full-time jobs and the average wages of jobs available in an area.
Economists question the effectiveness of financial incentives to private businesses to expand or change locations. State and local governments continue to expand the incentives.
The Bridgetown grant comes after the state awarded $8.8 million in incentives in early March and $2.8 million in FastTrack grants for the first two months of 2023.
Bridgetown is based in Oregon and the new Wilson County facility will be its second location outside of its headquarters.
The company plans to annually produce nearly 100 million pounds of the company’s all-natural, organic and gluten-free snack brands at the facility.
– – –
Jon Styf is an award-winning editor and reporter of The Center Square who has worked in Illinois, Texas, Wisconsin, Florida and Michigan in local newsrooms over the past 20 years, working for Shaw Media, Hearst and several other companies.
Photo “Bridgetown Natural Foods” by TNECD.
