Amy's Expansion Plans Good News for County

Amy's Kitchen, the Petaluma-based maker of vegetarian and vegan foods, has announced that its plans for expansion have taken a new turn - and a big turn at that.

According to an article in the Press Democrat, Amy's Kitchen proposed "the largest business expansion in the city in at least a decade," with its plans to hire an additional 800 workers in the county.

It announced plans recently to open its first retail outlet, a fast-food restaurant near the planned casino in Rohnert Park.

According to the PD, Amy's dropped its plan to open a plant in South Carolina "in part because it lacked a supply system in South Carolina of farmers producing the right selection of organic or natural crops," according to CEO Andy Berliner said.

Berliner would prefer to build in Santa Rosa largely because the company's existing Sonoma County work force has more depth of experience than its labor force in Medford, he said. That difference could prove crucial to the success of a large expansion.

"We feel we could build the work force more easily," he said.

Read the full article here.

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