Any good economic development news is good in times like this: Quality Chef to add 2 jobs with new investment

Two new jobs for a community can seem like something when industrial jobs like those at Terex Cedarapids and Midland Forge are vanishing and the Cedar Rapids plants are closing.

This week, the City Council will be asked to back H.J. Heinz's Co. application to the Iowa Department of Economic Development for an $88,440 job-creation award to help with the company's $1.7-million investment at its Quality Chef plant on C Street SW near Highway 30.

The company plans to add a 4,000-sq. ft. dock to an existing building to accommodate increased production, reports Richard Luther, the city's development operations manager.

The investment also will qualify the company by state law for a special local property-tax exemption valued at $15,877, Luther adds.

Quality Chef, which employs about 180 people in Cedar Rapids, tells the city that the investment will create two new jobs.