MAXTON — Campbell Soup will have 100 percent of its property taxes repaid as an incentive for the company investing $20 million in an expansion at its Maxton plant, officials in neighboring Robeson County said this week.
Robeson is in competition with two other plants to land the expansion that would create 25 jobs, said Greg Cummings, Robeson Economic Development director. One of those plants is in Texas and the other in Ohio.
The proposed expansion will entail investments of $14 million in machinery and equipment and $6 million in its facility, officials said. The jobs created will have salaries ranging from $12.50 to $15 an hour and will come with benefits and 401K plans.
The incentive offered by the county will be conditional on the Campbell Soup plant staying in Maxton for five years after the expansion is completed.
The expansion plan was precipitated by Campbell Soup closing its facility in Toronto, Canada, on Jan. 24. If Campbell Soup chooses to expand in Robeson County it will be the 15th expansion at the Maxton facility. The move will result in 380 job cuts in Canada.
“This is not about politics or geography — this was a business decision based on the realities of the market and the limitations of the Toronto facility,”said Thomas Hushen, a company spokesman. “It is the oldest plant in the Campbell network and, due to its age and size, cannot be retrofit in a competitively viable way.”
Campbell, based in Camden, New Jersey, has been cutting costs as it grapples with a prolonged sales slump. Consumers have increasingly turned away from canned soup, which they often perceive as overly processed.
Campbell — the maker of Goldfish crackers, in addition to its signature soup — agreed last month to buy chip-and-pretzel producer Snyder’s-Lance Inc. for about $4.9 billion as salty snacks have shown strong growth.
Campbell is already more U.S.-focused than many food giants, generating more than 80 percent of its revenue in its home country. Though the jobs impact of the latest move will be small, it fits with President Donald Trump’s push to foster domestic manufacturing.
Campbell Chief Executive Officer Denise Morrison was a member of Trump’s manufacturing council and was present during an early meeting when he complimented the company’s soup. Morrison was later part of an exodus of executives who resigned from the council, which was then disbanded.
