Representatives from Organic Milling, Valdosta Technical College and Georgia Quick Start met recently at the company’s Valdosta facility to sign a training agreement.
For more than 40 years, Organic Milling has been providing the retail market with unique, great-tasting breakfast cereals and premium granolas. The company developed the Kashi brand and specializes in “Better for You” and organic cereal products that can provide profitable growth for the private label market in today’s high-demand categories.
The company realized in 2006 that its facility in San Dimas, Calif., was at capacity, and with its customer base moving east, an East Coast facility was needed.
Organic Milling found the Valdosta facility, formerly owned by Consolidated Biscuit, to be ideally equipped for its food production needs, and found in Valdosta an experienced, available workforce. The Valdosta/Lowndes Industrial Authority assisted the company in acquiring the plant.
The facility is Organic and Kosher certified. The plant currently has 80 employees and 70 more are expected to be added within three months, with a goal of employing 400 people within the first three years.
Quick Start is Georgia’s internationally acclaimed economic development program that provides customized workforce training at no cost to qualified new, expanding and existing businesses in Georgia. Since 1967, Quick Start has trained more than 600,000 employees through 5,100 projects in a broad range of industries.
The Quick Start training agreement was developed based on a Project Study that was conducted at the Organic Milling facility in Valdosta. The training agreement is based on Organic Milling’s commitment to provide 200 new jobs during the first phase of its development. Quick Start will be designing and developing training material, as well as providing instructors for the training classes.
The training program involves three distinct partners: Organic Milling, Valdosta Technical College and Quick Start. Each partner will be responsible for the successful completion of this program. The partnership will not end when the Quick Start training is completed. Valdosta Technical College will be available to assist Organic Milling with ongoing training programs.
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