Kikkoman Foods, a Japanese soy sauce company with strong ties to southern Wisconsin, has acquired a 100-acre site in the City of Jefferson for a $560 million factory and is expanding its Walworth operation.
The total investment is at least $800 million, Gov. Tony Evers office said Tuesday afternoon.
Public documents showed that Kikkoman Foods, based in Walworth, purchased the $3 million site in Jefferson from Jefferson County and will be the anchor tenant of a new Food and Beverage Innovation Campus on Industrial Avenue.
The first phase of the project calls for 200,000 square feet of office, production and warehouse space, creating 50 full-time jobs. A second phase would add 100,000 square feet and 40 more jobs.
Kikkoman has had a plant in Walworth, about 40 minutes south of Jefferson, for more than 50 years. The company said it's expanding that operation but didn't provide details.
"We have always valued Walworth for its great market access, outstanding workforce, central location for raw materials, pure water, and the open-hearted spirit of partnership of the local community. We chose Jefferson for those same reasons, and we look forward to expanding our footprint in Wisconsin and establishing a supply chain with increased stability in North America, Kikkoman's largest overseas market," Yuzaburo Mogi, the company's board chairman, said in a statement.
Kikkoman said it will introduce new technologies aimed at efficiencies, labor productivity, and environmental sustainability. Jefferson County officials said they had evaluated the development potential of the Jefferson site since 1994, with recent considerations in 2018. After engaging with various stakeholders, including University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, the concept of the Food and Beverage Innovation Campus emerged.
Kikkoman is one of the world's largest soy sauce companies. Its Walworth plant, opened in 1973, was one of the first Japanese-owned manufacturing operations in the United States. The company also has a plant in Folsom, California.
"For decades, Wisconsin and Japan have built meaningful partnerships in business and in culture, from over $700 million every year in exports to Japan, to the seven sister cities that Japan and Wisconsin share, to the continued investment and growth of Kikkoman's first U.S. brewing plant here in Wisconsin," Gov. Tony Evers said in a statement.
A groundbreaking for the Jefferson plant is scheduled for June, and the first shipments of soy sauce from that operation are planned for the fall of 2026.
Wisconsin Economic Development Corp.'s board of directors has approved up to $15.5 million in performance-based tax credits to assist Kikkoman in expanding its operations.
Jefferson is five miles south of Interstate 94 between Madison and Milwaukee. Its industrial park is home to more than a dozen companies including Generac, Nestle Purina PetCare, and Remis Power Systems.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Kikkoman Foods to build a $560 million factory in Jefferson and expand its Walworth operation
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