Gavin P. Smith – The Griffin Report
Goya Foods of Florida, the largest Hispanic-owned food company in the United States, recently announced its plan to build a new $26-million manufacturing and distribution facility in Miami-Dade County. The 120,000 sq. ft. expansion is expected to create at least 30 additional jobs for the Miami-Dade area over the course of three years.
Initially, the company considered relocating to places like Orlando, West Palm Beach and Broward County. However, the many benefits of staying in the Miami-Dade County area significantly outweighed the benefits of locating in other areas of Florida. Goya has been establishing their current operations in Miami-Dade since they first settled into the Florida area just over thirty years ago.
“As the Goya brand grows and strengthens, we needed to insure our growth strategies were in line,” said Francisco R. Unanue, President of Goya Foods of Florida. “Miami-Dade has the global access, transportation infrastructure, and business climate Goya Foods of Florida needs to stay on a successful and growing track.”
The roots of Goya Foods can be traced back to its founding in 1936, beginning in a small storefront in Lower Manhattan, New York. Starting out as a small catering company for local Hispanic families, Goya quickly stepped into the void of a growing consumer market and grew to dominance and expansion. Their operations include manufacturing and distribution facilities all over the Caribbean as well as in Spain. In contrast to Goya’s humble beginnings, the company boasts more than 1,500 product offerings, adding over 400 new products to their lineup in 2005 alone. With this extensive product diversification, Goya intends to benefit from an expansion plan in South Florida.
“Miami-Dade has and will continue to be a strategic distribution hub for our southeast manufacturing and distribution operations,” said Unanue.
Goya’s decision to stick to Miami-Dade was made easier by The Beacon Council, Miami-Dade County’s official economic development partnership, who assisted the company in qualifying for the Miami-Dade County Targeted Jobs Incentive Fund incentive, a performance-based incentive that is disbursed only if it meets specific criteria over the next three years. In other words, the incentive will be paid out once Goya demonstrates that it has invested the money into the county that it promised and created the jobs that it said the expansion would create.
Goya Foods of Florida plans to build their distribution facility at the Pan American West Business Park in Miami-Dade. The new Florida base of operations is located in Doral.
