Orange County commissioners are scheduled to hold a public hearing this month about a proposed incentives agreement for Morinaga, the manufacturer of HI-CHEW and several other candy and dessert brands, which would fund an expansion of the company’s existing facility at 4391 Wilson Road in Mebane.
Morinaga’s planned expansion will double its footprint in Mebane – from the original 100,000-square foot manufacturing plan, to 200,000 square feet by 2027 – at its existing 21-acre property along Wilson Road, which fronts I-85/40 and is just over the Alamance County line in western Orange County.
Following the public hearing, Orange County’s commissioners will also consider appropriating $2.9 million in incentives payments, to be distributed in seven annual installments over a period of seven years.
Orange County government officials say that the expansion of the Morinaga facility “will create immediate and long-term benefits, to include the creation of 204 new full time equivalent jobs, with health care and related employment benefits, and new capital investment of $127 million within the first five years of operation.”
The salaries for the new positions are projected to average $48,912 annually or $23.52 per hour by 2030, Morinaga officials said during a press conference in July.
Mebane’s city council unanimously agreed to kick in $1.1 million in incentives for the expansion on August 5. The city’s share includes $576,999 in cash grants distributed annually after investment and employment benchmarks are achieved and a maximum waiver of the city’s building permit and inspections fees of $500,000.
Noriyuki Nishikawa, the president and CEO of Morinaga America Foods headquartered at the plant in Mebane, told Mebane’s city council in August that the company enjoyed U.S. sales of $137 million last year. In Japan, he said the company’s Hi-Chew brand is the best-selling candy in the country.
Nishikawa said the company has appreciated the “reliability of the workforce” in Mebane, its only U.S. production facility, and enjoys “bringing joy to our customers” through its products.
With an estimated $31.6 million property tax valuation in 2023, Morinaga is on track to become one of the top manufacturing taxpayers in Orange County.
Morinaga initially invested $48 million to build its existing manufacturing facility in Mebane, where it currently employs more than 200 people, according to Mebane city officials.
Morinaga also will receive a state performance-based grant of $100,000 to help fund the expansion, contingent on a matching investment of $115.4 million by the company, as well as local government support, Gov. Roy Cooper said in July.
Recipients of those grants through the One North Carolina Fund receive no money upfront and must meet job creation and capital investment targets in order to receive any grant payments, according to the North Carolina Department of Commerce, which administers the grants.
The state-funded incentives total approximately $6.7 million and consist of the following:
- Sales tax exemption for machinery and equipment purchases ($5.9 million);
- N. C. Community College training support ($306,000);
- U.S. Department of Labor’s Federal Bonding Program to assist in the hiring of “at-risk” job seekers ($255,000);
- Work Opportunity Tax Credit ($146,400);
- On-The-Job (OJT) training ($50,000).
Orange County’s commissioners are scheduled to hold the public hearing on the proposed incentives for Morinaga at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, September 17 at the Southern Human Services Center on Homestead Road in Chapel Hill.
