In the past year, Jefferson County has attracted approximately $1.5 billion in investments from some of the world’s largest food and beverage manufacturing companies.
Between Nestlé Purina announcing a $195 million expansion at its manufacturing facility in the city of Jefferson in April, Aztalan Bio investing another $500 million into its Johnson Creek biorefinery and Kikkoman Corp. unveiling plans to build a $560 million facility in the city of Jefferson, the county has experienced a surge in interest from companies serving the food and beverage industries.
The $1.5 billion figure doesn’t include the undisclosed investment that Milwaukee-based Palermo Villa Inc. made in early 2023 to acquire a former Tyson Foods plant in the city of Jefferson and convert it into a frozen pizza facility. Nor does it include the local investments being made to support the creation of a 165-acre Food and Beverage Innovation Campus, which will be anchored by Kikkoman’s newest manufacturing facility.
The success Jefferson County is experiencing in attracting food and beverage-related businesses is not a coincidence – local leaders have spent the past four years considering the best use cases for the area’s abundant land, natural resources and pool of manufacturing talent.
“Jefferson has a pretty strong workforce. They have very low unemployment, and they’ve always been a big food and beverage manufacturing city,” said Gina Balke, executive director of FaB Wisconsin.
More than a decade ago, when the Jefferson bypass was built along Highway 26, the neighboring parcels of land that were owned by the county became incorporated into the city.
At the same time, the city and county began discussing how to develop the land. Residential developments and a medical college were among some of the ideas floated, according to Benjamin Wehmeier, outgoing Jefferson County administrator.
The county officially commissioned a land use study for the parcels near Highway 26 more than four years ago.
“We thought there was a different use that could benefit the county in general,” said Wehmeier. “We went back to the roots of Jefferson County and what we do well. That’s agri-business, food and beverage clusters and advanced manufacturing.”
Wehmeier in October took over as the new president and CEO of the Greater Watertown Community Health Foundation. He will continue to serve both Jefferson County and the foundation through mid-December in a planned transition process.
Landing an international tenant
Work to attract an anchor tenant for the FaB Innovation Campus began at the start of 2023, when Jefferson County leaders first received an RFP from Kikkoman.
The Tokyo-based manufacturer, best known for its soy sauce, needed 1,000 acres of land along with the necessary infrastructure to support an initial 240,000-square-foot manufacturing plant. Additional construction phases at the site are expected.
The high quality of the water in Jefferson was just one reason Kikkoman selected the city, according to Deb Reinbold, president of Thrive Economic Development.
The city of Jefferson’s water supply is free from PFAS, also known as forever chemicals, and the municipality would be able to absorb the sodium output from Kikkoman’s plant, she explained.
“Our infrastructure is how we landed that project,” said Reinbold. “It was the capacity availability, for everything from water to sanitary sewer to power.”
It was a six-month turnaround between Kikkoman conducting its first site visit in June of 2023 and the Jefferson County Board accepting an offer from the company to purchase the land. Kikkoman leaders reinforced the fact that the area’s natural resources truly won the company over.
“Because the FaB Innovation Campus is dedicated to manufacturing and food research companies, we don’t need to worry about pollution or contamination from harmful chemicals,” said Osamu Mogi, representative director and senior executive corporate officer at Kikkoman Corp.
Other supports
Having an excess of land isn’t the only attribute needed to support a community focused on food and beverage manufacturing.
The local talent pool is highly attractive to big names like Kikkoman, Reinbold said. County leaders work closely with local school districts to expose students to potential careers in food and beverage manufacturing.
“Most of the schools within our county actually have some kind of curriculum that supports food and beverage manufacturing,” said Reinbold.
Economic development leaders have also invested heavily in making sure there is housing available to support technical workers. Jefferson County recently launched a $9.5 million revolving loan fund earmarked for gap financing, which will incentivize the creation of additional housing units. The funding will eventually lead to 400 new housing units across five different developments, Reinbold said.
In the coming months, as new tenants are expected to be announced for the FaB Innovation Campus, one area of concern the county will be monitoring closely is energy consumption.
As the city and county grow – both in the number of residents and businesses – predicting future energy needs has become even trickier. Microsoft moving into the southeastern Wisconsin region and building a massive data center must also be taken into consideration, Wehmeier said.
“We’ve shown we can compete with other parts of the country and go after these projects,” he said. “At some point, we need to look at how we can continue with these larger projects and if the utilities can keep pace with it.”
