The Anderson-DuBose Company, Inc., a leading food service distribution company that serves McDonald’s and Chipotle locations, is investing $60 million in a new facility in Jacksonville to serve more than 300 restaurants in the Southeast.
The project, approved last month by the Jacksonville City Council as Project Bobcat will create 109 high-quality jobs at the company’s new Northwest Jacksonville facility.
“It’s exciting that Anderson-Dubose has chosen Jacksonville for its new storage facility,” said Mayor Donna Deegan. “The minority-owned food storage company is making significant investments into our community with $60 million in funding for the project and a commitment to hire 109 employees with competitive pay and benefits. Anderson-Dubose is continuing a growing trend of companies expanding operations into Jacksonville because we are a fantastic place to do business.”
Anderson-DuBose has provided paper and food supplies to more than 650 McDonald’s restaurants in Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, and West Virginia for more than 30 years. In 2021, McDonald’s named Anderson-DuBose its U.S. Supplier of the Year. The Ohio-based distributor is the state’s largest minority-owned business and currently operates warehouses in Lordstown, Ohio, and Rochester, New York.
Anderson-Dubose is purchasing the 33-acre Norfolk Southern-owned site, known as Westlake Site 34B, for the purpose of developing a 160,000-square-foot, rail-served ambient and cold-storage distribution facility that will support McDonald’s restaurants across the Southeast. Westlake Site 34B is one of a few remaining rail-served sites located within the Norfolk Southern-owned Westlake Industrial Park in Jacksonville, Florida. The park is exclusively served by a Norfolk Southern mainline.
“By expanding our footprint into Jacksonville, we can better meet the burgeoning demand for cold and dry food service storage in the Southeast and revolutionize distribution support operations for our valued customers,” Anderson-DuBose Chief Operating Officer Mike Boddy said. “Anderson-DuBose appreciates Norfolk Southern’s commitment to this joint growth opportunity for both of our companies.”
It is also expected to generate more than 160 carloads for Norfolk Southern on an annual basis and marks Anderson-DuBose’s first expansion into the Southeast.
“At Norfolk Southern, we are proud to play a pivotal role in facilitating smart and sustainable growth opportunities for our rail network and our esteemed customers,” said VP Business Development and First and Final Mile Markets Stefan Loeb. “By leveraging our extensive real estate assets, we are not only enhancing our operational capabilities, but we are also fostering economic development in the regions we serve and lowering our national supply chain’s carbon footprint.”
Community-owned utility JEA worked with JAXUSA Partnership to assist the Anderson-DuBose Company, Inc., with their site selection process.
Anderson-DuBose’s investment in Jacksonville is another example of national corporations choosing Jacksonville to establish a presence in the Southeast.
“Anderson-DuBose is well-known as an incredible place to work and we are proud to help bring more than 100 new sought-after jobs to our community,” JAXUSA Partnership President Aundra Wallace said. “We are strategically located to serve as a Southeastern logistics hub and thank Anderson-DuBose for investing in Jacksonville.”
