SPC Paris Baguette said on the 17th that it held a groundbreaking ceremony on the 16th (local time) for its baking plant in Texas, United States.
The ceremony was held at the Highpoint Business Park, an industrial complex in the city of Burleson, Johnson County, Texas.
Burleson Mayor Chris Fletcher; Johnson County Judge Christopher Boedeker; Do Gwang-heon, head of the Dallas office of the Consulate General in Houston; Hur Young-in, chairman of SPC Group; Hur Jin-soo, president of Paris Baguette; and Darren Tipton, head of Paris Baguette's Americas corporation, attended.
The plant represents an investment of $208 million (about 290 billion won) and is slated for final completion in 2029. In the first phase, the company will build and operate a production facility of about 17,000 square meters by 2027. It then plans to expand to 28,000 square meters by 2029.
In Feb., SPC Group purchased a plant site of about 150,000 square meters and received approval for up to $14 million (about 20 billion won) in grants from Johnson County and the city of Burleson. Design and construction were awarded to JE Dunn, a major U.S. builder.
A Paris Baguette official said, "We expect the Texas plant to serve as a bridgehead for the North American market and for the Latin American market we will enter, contributing to stronger production and logistics efficiency and improved quality competitiveness."