Mars on Friday announced a new 339,000-square-foot baking facility for its Nature's Bakery brand in Salt Lake City. According to Nature's Bakery, the project will cost some $237 million and create more than 190 jobs in Utah. If all goes according to plan, the new plant will be operational by July 2025.
Founded in 2011, the Reno, Nevada-based Nature's Bakery is the eighth best-selling and fastest-growing granola and snack bar brand in a more than $4 billion market segment, according to the company.
Steve Gardiner, CEO of Nature's Bakery, says the investment will boost capacity to meet growing consumer and retailer demand.
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The Nature's Bakery brand was sold to Kind for $400 million in 2020. Mars acquired Kind North America the same year in a deal worth some $5 billion, according to the New York Times.
The Utah Governor's Office of Economic Opportunity and the Economic Development Corporation of Utah said the project will receive a post-performance tax reduction of 20%. The corporate incentive is part of the state's Economic Development Tax Increment Financing program. Under the incentive, the company must add 65 new, high-paying jobs and more than 190 jobs in the next ten years.
Utah's post-performance tax credit reduces marginal tax rates for companies up to 30% of new state tax revenues (Utah sales, corporate income, and state payroll withholding taxes).
Nature's Bakery says it uses real ingredients to make convenient, on-the-go snacks that are plant-based, dairy-free, nut-free and Non-GMO Project Verified. The company's products are sold nationally at more than 100,000 locations.
