Pennsylvania-based food company to build $40M facility, create 150 jobs in Wichita
More jobs are heading to Wichita in 2023. JTM Foods, an Pennsylvania-based food processing company, on Wednesday announced plans to build a $40 million manufacturing facility in north Wichita.
The new facility will house JJ’s Snack Pies. The facility has broken ground in the ICT 21 Industrial District at the site of the former Derby Refinery.
The industrial park is currently being redeveloped by brothers Marty and Ron Cornejo, former owners of the Cornejo and Sons Construction company, a longtime prominent city contractor and landfill operator.
“We are thrilled to play a part in bringing this land back into productive use,” Mayor Brandon Whipple said.
The company says it chose the site because of its close proximity to I-135. The plant will look to hire 150 people in the next two years, according to a news release from Gov. Laura Kelly’s office.
“The Wichita facility will provide increased production capacity and improve the logistics for southern, southwest and west coast markets of the hand-snack pies. This expansion is JTM foods’ first outside of Pennsylvania,” the release read.
The facility plans to open in the spring of 2023.
It’s great to see this blighted site “turn into a welcomed opportunity for businesses such as JTM to come to Wichita from PA,” said Vice Mayor Jeff Blubaugh, who attended Wednesday’s groundbreaking ceremony, in a Facebook post.