Starbucks Corp next year plans to open a new California facility for its Evolution Fresh juice business that will significantly increase its production and distribution capacity and create 40 new manufacturing jobs.
The world's biggest coffee chain bought Evolution Fresh for $30 million in cash in November. Starbucks plans to sell Evolution Fresh juices in its shops and through other retail outlets.
The latest move should help the company complete the roll-out of Evolution Fresh products on the U.S. West Coast and support a planned eastward expansion, Jeff Hansberry, Starbucks' president of channel development, said.
"This will allow us to go further, faster with Evolution Fresh juices," Hansberry said.
Starbucks is moving Evolution Fresh juice production from a roughly 72,000-square-foot facility in San Bernardino to a 260,000-square-foot building in Rancho Cucamonga.
The company said all 120 of its San Bernardino employees have been offered positions at the new plant. It expects to hire another 40 workers when the new juicery is fully operational.
Starbucks Chief Executive Howard Schultz, who has helped found a job creation fund, has called on fellow executives to step up hiring and take a bigger role in the country's economic revival.
