Hurricane – No more holding the dressing when ordering salads as it will be readily available from Litehouse Inc., who is opening a $10 million facility in the spring of 2011. Currently having its corporate offices located in Sandpoint, Idaho, and a facility in Lowell, Mich., the salad dressing manufacture is expanding and will add 162 jobs to the local economy.
Litehouse began as a family owned and operated restaurant over 50 years ago in Hope, Idaho. Famous for its bleu cheese dressing made at the restaurant, and due to its popularity, the dressing was expanded into retail markets across the country. Since that time, they have added many product lines and have recently acquired Green Garden Foods, located in Kent, Wash.
Edward Hawkins, CEO and Founder said: “We are excited to announce that our business has grown to the point where we are in need of another facility. Our expansion projections have been to secure a site in the area of the country that will provide Litehouse with logistical synergies for many of our customers in the Southwestern region …”
According to the Utah Governor’s Office of Economic Development, financial incentives are provided to businesses that relocate or expand within the state. One of the requirements to receive the incentives is to pay 100 percent of rural county average wage.
Litehouse brings new jobs into a market that has been lagging since the downturn in the economy. According to the Department of Workforce Services, unemployment rate is hovering around 9.8 percent in Washington County and the average monthly wage of those employed is currently $2,331.
Litehouse is employee-owned and has sales in excess of $140 million with currently 500 employees. For further information on Litehouse, you can visit them online at www.litehousefoods.com.