UNFI set to expand in Rhode Island, could add up to 150 jobs

UNITED NATURAL FOODS has indicated it will expand its presence in Rhode Island. It plans to create a shared services center in the Providence area, with the expectation that the new office will house up to 150 new employees by 2020.
UNITED NATURAL FOODS has indicated it will expand its presence in Rhode Island. It plans to create a shared services center in the Providence area, with the expectation that the new office will house up to 150 new employees by 2020.

PROVIDENCE – United Natural Foods Inc. will expand its footprint in Rhode Island with a shared services center, adding about 150 new jobs, the R.I. Commerce Corp. announced Wednesday.

The company, based in Providence in offices at the American Locomotive Works complex on Iron Horse Way in the Valley neighborhood, is a natural and organic foods distributor with reach across the United States and Canada. The company employs about 9,800 people in North America, and about 450 in Rhode Island, according to Commerce RI and the company website.

It is negotiating a long-term lease at an undisclosed site in the Providence area, according to a news release. It anticipates making renovations to that site to accommodate its new employees, and will apply for tax credits in Rhode Island through the Qualified Jobs Incentive Act program.

Those incentives, awarded based on the salary of the job created, could potentially amount to $1.9 million, according to Commerce Secretary Stefan Pryor in a phone interview.

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The company has told Commerce RI officials it will create 100 new jobs by the end of 2018 and a total of up to 150 by 2020, Pryor said.

A third-party analysis, described generally in the news release, said the new jobs are projected to result in a net increase of $4.8 million in personal income, sales and corporate business tax revenue over a 12-year period.

Commerce RI’s Investment Committee, which makes recommendations to its board on incentive awards, is expected to consider the application in its Feb. 23 meeting, he said. If a recommendation is made, the proposal could reach the full board in its meeting the following week.

Although the Qualified Jobs incentives generally are available to employers who create a certain number of jobs that are above the state median, more flexibility is available to manufacturers and to distributors. The median salary for the jobs to be created by UNFI was not immediately known.

Pryor said the expansion is encouraging because UNFI occupies an important space in a growing industry. “Natural, organic and specialty foods are growing ever more popular in the U.S. and worldwide. We’re proud of the fact that UNFI is doubling down in Rhode Island and choosing to expand here.”

The shared services center will allow the company to drive greater efficiencies and improve customer experience, according to Steven L. Spinner, UNFI President, CEO and board chairman.

In a statement, he said it will allow the company to further simplify and standardize its supplier and customer interactions.

The company distributes more than 100,000 products to 43,000 customer locations in the United States and Canada.

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