The Story

Dot Foods, Inc. is the nation’s largest redistributor of food products in the country, providing a unique and critical conduit between food manufacturers and large and small food distributors and retailers. This family-owned business, founded in 1960, has twelve distribution centers employing 5,900 people throughout the country. This project in rural Manchester, Tennessee will allow Dot Foods to construct and operate a new 177,000 square foot food products distribution center in the Southeast US.  The facility will include dry, refrigerated, and frozen warehouse space.  The project will also include an affiliate company, Dot Transportation, Inc. which owns and operates a fleet of refrigerate and freezer trucks that deliver product on behalf of Dot Foods.

The Financing

• Total project cost: $61,411,000
• MuniStrategies Allocation: $10,000,000 ($18M from other CDEs)

The Impacts

• Economic – Located in the Appalachian Regional Commission service area, this project was a priority of local and state economic development entities because it will be instrumental to enhancing the industrial base of the rural community and attracting other businesses and employment in the future. For example, the establishment of a CDL Class A Truck Driver School targeted towards LIPS and LIC residents is in process. The project received several incentives from Manchester, Coffee County, and the State of Tennessee. This includes a FastTrack Economic Development Grant valued at$1.6M and a TVA Grant valued at $200,000 from the state of Tennessee, as well as approximately $7.8M in incentives from Coffee County.
• Jobs – The project will create 251 permanent jobs and 200 construction jobs. Of the 251 total permanent jobs, 220 are considered accessible (available to LIPs with lower levels of education or other barriers to employment) and all are quality jobs paying over the MIT living wage for Coffee County with access to benefits.
• Community – Dot Foods is an active community partner through various outreach activities and partnerships. Notable activities include partnering with FEMA to assist victims of natural disasters. Furthermore, the company established our Neighbor-to-Neighbor Program (N2N) which assists approximately 70 local food banks and pantries in the communities in which we operate, as well as Feeding America Foodbanks through food product donations. During the COVID-19 Pandemic, the Company donated a record amount of product to local pantries, schools, and regional foodbanks in lieu of the N2N program. Lastly, the Company has a heavy focus on hiring and serving veterans in the communities where it operates.
• Workforce Development – In addition to its in-house training for all employees, the project will partner with the Tennessee College of Advanced Technology (TCAT) to establish a CDL Class A Truck Driver Training School near the Project site. TCAT and Dot Foods will target LIPs and residents of LICs for recruitment and training. Additionally, the Company will operate an in-house truck driver training program to supplement the TCAT training partnership and will work with TCAT to train truck mechanics and HVAC maintenance workers.

In the News

Dot Foods Celebrates Groundbreaking of 13th U.S. Distribution Center, Its Second Location in Tennessee

https://www.vendingmarketwatch.com/management/news/21284988/dot-foods-earns-great-place-to-work-certification