Essex, Vermont - October 4, 2011
Green Mountain Coffee Roasters is expanding and it could mean hundreds of new jobs for Vermonters.
The company is becoming a coffee giant. Total sales for the third quarter of this year were more than $717 million. That's up 127 percent from third quarter sales last year.
Green Mountain Coffee has been looking to expand its Essex location since this spring. Now, it's well on its way. The coffee company received town permitting and is now working through the Act 250 process.
Currently, the facility in Essex has two buildings in Gauthier Industrial Park. They're being used as packaging facilities for Green Mountain's popular K-Cups.
If the expansion is approved, the company would connect those two buildings, creating a 500,000-square-foot space that would include another roasting area.
Green Mountain Coffee says it's not a done deal just yet, but Essex is definitely ready to smell the coffee.
"It means jobs and whether those jobs come from Essex or other places, it's jobs," said Rep. Linda Myers, R-Essex. "It's business for the community, it's taxes, let's face that and we're just very, very excited that this could happen."
Green Mountain Coffee is very careful not to say this is a done deal. Again, Act 250 approval is needed.
Officials in Essex say they've been hearing all kinds of numbers as far as how many jobs this could mean. Estimates range from the creation of 500-900 jobs. And when we went to the facility Tuesday, it appeared the company was at least hoping for the best; we saw land being cleared between the two buildings.
