Great economic news for Emerald City in this morning's Standard-Examiner, with this morning's announcement of a new addition the our city's business community. And no, it's not another ski company, with a skeleton crew of ski apparel salesmen operating from the attic of Bernard Allen's law office, or a fly-by-night airplane maker, doomed to liquidation in U.S. Bankruptcy Court. This company is solid, with 104 years' international business experience. It's even publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange. We'll let the Std-Ex's Marshall Thompson give you the gist of it, with a few of today's key paragraphs:
OGDEN — The Hershey Company, which manufactures some of America’s favorite chocolate treats, accepted Utah’s economic incentive Thursday to set up a distribution center at the Business Depot Ogden.Strangely... nary a word about gondolas -- oh my!
The incentive plan, which the Governor’s Office of Economic Development approved in October, gives Hershey $2.6 million over 10 years to operate a $38 million distribution hub out of Ogden. The GOED expects the center to employ 123 workers and generate $13 million in new revenue for the state in the next 10 years.
“Our productive work force, superior location and transportation infrastructure, along with an unparalleled quality of life, will continue to keep Utah in the forefront as one of America’s best states for business,” Gov. Jon Huntsman said in a news release. “Hershey will be a great addition to the growing and vibrant Ogden community.” [...]
“They plan to break ground in early March,” said Dave Harmer, Ogden’s community and economic development director. “Their target completion date is in October or sometime in the fall.”
Harmer added that many businesses are attracted to BDO because of its easy access to an interstate highway and rail service.
We'd like to heartily congratulate Governor Huntsman and Boss Godfrey for landing this trophy economic fish. We've looked at the charts, and won't expect to see Hershey locking out its employees and customers late some snowy Sunday night, and popping up in Bankruptcy Court on Monday morning.
We believe that it's sound companies like Hershey that we need to attract, if we seek Emerald City's true economic revival. Perhaps Boss Godfrey should think about devoting more time to doing his recruiting at big-league trade conventions, and forget the Vegas ski trade show altogether. Lord Godfrey would probably amaze himself at what he could accomplish, if he were inclined to associate with grownups.
And for those who are scratching their heads wondering how Hershey fits into Boss Godfrey's "High Adventure Recreation" theme, we'll remind you that chocolate is a product made from a vegetable, and is thus a health food product. As a matter of fact, one of Hershey's early advertising slogans capitalized on this aspect with the catchy phrase: "a palatable confection and a most nourishing food.” And no, we are not making this up.
Who knows? If Godfrey keeps this up, we may form a Boss Godfrey Fan Club. Stranger things have been known to happen.
And what say our readers about all this?
