BY: ANNA KAMINSKI
Kansas Reflector
TOPEKA — A Dutch food manufacturer, known for Country Crock and I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter, is set to open a new manufacturing facility in southwest Kansas.
Flora Food Group is expected to invest $90 million in Hugoton with the opening of a new hub for its cream and cream cheese products for sale in the U.S. and Canada, Gov. Laura Kelly’s office announced Wednesday.
The company promised the addition of 100 jobs to Stevens County.
Flora announced in September it purchased a facility that had closed earlier this year. The old Kansas Dairy Ingredients plant closed unexpectedly in mid-January after more than a decade in Hugoton. Its land was appraised this year at about $1.5 million, according to records from the Stevens County Appraiser’s Office. About 150 people lost their jobs, according to reporting from KWCH in Wichita.
Lt. Gov. David Toland said in the Wednesday announcement that Flora is the perfect match for Hugoton and the state.
“Local and state officials worked together to find a company in growth mode that would be a good fit for the community,” he said.
Flora, formerly known as Upfield Group, owns another production facility in Johnson County that acts as a hub for its butter and spread products. It manufactures most of the products it sells, which are billed as 100% plant based. U.S. products include Flora Plant Butter, Country Crock and I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter.
“Building on the existing, state-of-the-art infrastructure and trained workforce residing in the local community, we look forward to bringing more folks into the Flora Food Group family as well as continuing to produce our kitchen and pantry staple items here in America’s heartland and across our broader Americas region,” said Jim Breach, president of Flora’s North American business.