The Hershey Company recently announced plans to invest $104 million in growing its Augusta County, Virginia manufacturing facility. The 111,000 square-foot expansion will focus on the production of penuche and peanut cream, which will be distributed to other Hershey facilities on the East Coast.
The Augusta County location appears to have been selected due to it proximity to the Stuarts Draft facility, which is one of the few Hershey facilities that process nuts. Some of the products currently made in the plant include Almond Joy's and Reese's cups. Hershey currently employs more than 1,000 workers in Virginia, with this expansion adding 65 jobs to that total.
The Virginia Economic Development Partnership worked with Augusta County and the Shenandoah Valley Partnership to help land the expansion and associated jobs. Virginia's governor, Ralph Northam, also approved a $600,000 grant from the Commonwealth’s Opportunity Fund, as well as a $400,000 performance-based grant from the Virginia Investment Performance program.
This will be the facility's second expansion in three years.
