Two Southern Nevada snack food manufacturing companies will receive federal training grants in connection with their respective plant expansions that will provide more than 100 new jobs.
The Nevada Commission on Economic Development on Tuesday unanimously approved Train Employees Now grants for North Las Vegas-based Chee Marie Corp., doing business as Jadon Foods, and TH Foods Inc., Loves Park, Ill., which has a manufacturing and distribution plant in Henderson.
It was the second-to-last meeting of the commission, which will be discontinued in June. Requests for tax incentives will then be handled by Gov. Brian Sandoval’s Board of Economic Development, which has been planning new economic development strategies and procedures since it began meeting in 2011.
Jadon Foods, which manufactures gluten-free cookies and desserts, was approved for $120,000 in training grants for 60 employees as the company moves from its North Las Vegas facility to a larger plant in Las Vegas.
Jane Lee, president of Jadon, said new employees would be trained in classes for quality assurance, Food and Drug Administration compliance, hazard analysis, manufacturing practices, equipment maintenance, plant-based nutrition, export compliance and Homeland Security Department compliance as well as safety, executive leadership and accounting.
Jadon qualified for the grant by creating 60 jobs — six times the number required by statute — with an average wage of $18.78 and hour, which is 20 percent more than the statutory requirement.
Jadon, a leading woman-owned, minority-owned Southern Nevada business, is expected to make other tax abatement and deferral requests of the state in the future.
TH Foods also requested grants of $2,000 per employee for 12 jobs that qualify under the grant program.
TH Foods plant manager Stephen Killam told the commission that the company would hire a total of 51 new employees and the grant would be used to train 12 in classes for record-keeping and equipment training by manufacturer.
The company, which manufactures a variety of sesame, corn and rice cake snack products, will add a second and third manufacturing line in 2013 and 2014. Killam said the company’s Illinois facility is at capacity, but the Henderson operation will grow by 20 percent.
TH Foods qualified for the grants by providing 51 jobs, more than five times the number required, with an average wage of $15.76 an hour, which is 1 percent more than the statutory requirement.