America’s biggest family-owned snack maker delivered some sweet news to its hometown Tuesday, promising to invest nearly $500 million and add 482 jobs through a series of expansions in Collegedale over the next 15 years.
In the biggest dollar expansion in the company’s 92-year history, McKee Foods Corp. announced plans to more than double the size of its Apison Pike plant and undertake more than $350 million of other improvements and investments at its Collegedale headquarters over the next decade and a half. The additions to the Apison plant, which has already been enlarged three times over its 23-year life, could begin by this summer as the biggest part of the initial $225 million investment projected to add 125 jobs over the next seven years.
McKee Foods, the biggest privately owned maker of snack cakes in America, is expanding its production of Little Debbie, Drake’s Cakes and other snack cakes. McKee generated $1.4 billion in sales last year “and this is part of our efforts to grow that even more,” company spokesman Mike Gloekler said.
The $495 million investment planned by McKee is the biggest new business expansion announced in the Chattanooga area since Volkswagen announced plans for an $800 million addition in January 2019.
“McKee Foods is very pleased that we are able to bring more jobs and more bakery capacity to our Hamilton County operations,” said Mike McKee, president and CEO and the family-owned company. “Our family business is blessed to have such deep roots in Southeast Tennessee – a region where thoughtful infrastructure investment is being made while maintaining a keen eye on livability and workability for our employees and surrounding communities.”