A 'carrot' for food firm, expansion for Clearfield site

A state economic board has approved up to $2 million in incentives to U.S. Foodservice for expansion of its Clearfield operations, which would result in the creation of 225 new jobs in Weber County.

The deal is a restructuring of a previously approved state incentive from the Governor's Office of Economic Development Board.

U.S. Foodservice is one of the nation's largest food service distributors, with yearly revenues exceeding $18 billion. The Maryland-based company already employs roughly 225 people in Utah.

Mike Nelson, managing director of recruitment and incentives for GOED, said $1 million of the overall incentive is an Industrial Assistance Fund cash grant conditioned on the company acquiring 38 acres of property and completing a new building.

The remaining $1 million works as a tax rebate. U.S. Foodservice can receive up to a 30 percent annual rebate in what it pays in state taxes over a 10-year period, for a maximum of $1 million.

The incentives are conditioned on the company keeping operations in Utah for a minimum of 10 years and employee salaries must be at least 150 percent of Weber County's median wage.

Calls to U.S. Foodservice seeking comment were not immediately returned.

"This is an issue that we think is very important," Nelson said. "Here's a company that has invested years in the state, growing their company. We know that they are a real solid player and we would like the expansion to be here."

Nelson said the new jobs would pay more than $41,000, an amount that is 192 percent of Weber County's median wage.

The company projects new state wages from the expansion would be more than $73 million over 10 years. New state tax revenue is projected at more than $8.8 million over the same period. The capital investment would be $29 million.

Nelson said there was a "true risk" of the company going outside of the state if the incentives were not offered. "They have distribution sites all over the U.S.," Nelson said. "There are some surrounding states that they can easily put this distribution facility in where the incentives might be a little bit better than our state."

The proposed expansion would allow the company to increase its customer base in the Idaho, Montana and Wyoming region.

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