Piedmont Custom Meats to expand with $4.15M Triad operation, 40 jobs

June 13, 2017

Piedmont Custom Meats will invest $4.15 million into the former Yates Country Ham building in Asheboro and open a cutting and packaging operation that will add 40 jobs.

Kevin Franklin, vice president of the Randolph County Economic Development Corp., confirmed to TBJ Tuesday that the Caswell County-based specialty meats processor has purchased the vacant building on N.C. 49 South and add a variety of positions including meat cutters, inspectors, and warehousing personnel with an average wage of about $34,000. Officials with Piedmont Custom Meats were not immediately available.

The company also has slaughterhouse and processing plant at 9683 Kerr Chapel Road in the southwestern corner of Caswell County.

"The building has been vacant for three plus years, and so anytime we can find a suitable reuse for that building, we see that as a great thing," Franklin said. "Originally the building was built for Yates Country Ham. It's really a perfect fit for the type of operation that Piedmont Custom Meats is proposing."

Franklin said the company is moving forward with the expansion after Randolph County and the city of Asheboro each approved $12,500 worth of incentives this month for the firm to expand. That money was needed in order for Piedmont Custom Meats to be eligible for a state building reuse grant worth $500,000.

"It's a dollar-for-dollar match so if they are going to get a $500,000 grant, they also have to put $500,000 in," Franklin said. "They have to spend at least $1 million on the renovation project in order to capture the full grant amount."

The $4.15 million investment by Piedmont Custom Meats includes the building acquisition, renovations and equipment for the operation.

Source: Triad Business Journal