A Chinese manufacturer of sauces has invested $22 million in Coweta County, giving Georgia a taste of a much larger investment still to come just down the road in LaGrange.
Lee Kum Kee, based in Hong Kong, unveiled the Coweta facility in September, promising 8,000 tons of soy sauce annually from the new location, the 135-year-old company’s first dedicated for soy sauce in the U.S.
“This investment is more than the opening of a new facility. It represents confidence in Coweta County’s workforce, our location and our future,” Sarah Jacobs, president of the Coweta County Development Authority, told Global Atlanta. “By choosing Coweta, Lee Kum Kee has joined a community that values innovation, hard work and partnership. And in return, we gain a world-renowned company with a rich history of quality and excellence.”
But as significant as that project is, it’s less than a tenth of the capital investment promised nearby along Interstate 85.
Last June, the company announced that it would invest $288 million, creating 267 jobs in Troup County to support its larger menu of sauces from a new smart factory within a development catering to global companies. This facility will be its second major factory in the U.S.
“International companies continue to find success in Georgia because of long-term state and community planning like the Georgia International Business Park,” Georgia Department of Economic Development Commissioner Pat Wilson said at the time. “Since opening just five years ago, it is now home to more than 41 international companies representing 18 countries. LaGrange and Troup County’s foresight is paying dividends for their community, and we congratulate them on their success.”
Site and road preparations are ongoing for Lee Kum Kee’s LaGrange plant, and local authorities even changed laws to eliminate agricultural uses in its heavy industrial zoning.
The move sought to avoid any hurdles stemming from a Georgia that prohibits entities from “adversarial countries,” notably China, from owning agricultural land within 10 miles of a military establishment. While U.S. armories like the one in Troup County should be exempt, LaGrange wasn’t taking any chances, the LaGrange Daily News reported.
Long before that law went into effect, the community had already lost a major Chinese investor, Sentury Tire, which was supposed to have opened a $500 million plant in LaGrange in 2018 but abandoned plans two years after it was announced with great fanfare by Georgia officials. It was around that time that the Georgia International Business Park was created by consolidating three business parks under the same banner.
LaGrange and Troup County have continued to win international projects, positioning their community as sustainability-minded and hospitable to international firms.
Troup hosts Kia Motors’ West Point plant, opened in 2009, and has become a preferred location for Korean automotive suppliers and logistics providers.
T. Scott Malone, president of the Development Authority of LaGrange, said the company, which has a presence in more than 100 countries and has been serving North and South America for nearly 100 years, was “strategically targeted by our team to support our diverse industry base.”
The company’s products sold in the U.S. include oyster sauce, soy sauce, chili sauce, and sriracha mayo.
Stella Xu, the state’s director of Southeast Asian investment, worked on the project as well, the latest of many food processing investments coming into the state.
Another sauce manufacturer from Hong Kong, Koon Chun USA, said in September that it would put a $70 million plant in Gainesville.
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