Golden State Foods CEO Larry McGill, center, smiles after cutting the ribbon Wednesday inside the new KanPak warehouse south of Ark City. Also pictured are former Ark City mayor and current city commissioner Dan Jurkovich,, current mayor Jay Warren, city manager Nick Hernandez, KanPak President Kevin Casto and Ark City KanPak Engineer Jace Kennedy. (Photos by Brady Bauman)
KanPak in Ark City held its grand opening and ribbon cutting ceremony for its new warehouse Wednesday afternoon.
KanPak is a leading supplier of beverages and desserts using aseptic processing technology and a subsidiary of Golden State Foods in California. The 202,800-square-foot facility has two temperature zones for storing raw and finished foods, and will service known brands such as Chick-fil-A, Whataburger, Tim Hortons, and QuikTrip.
According to KanPak, the new warehouse will create an additional 20 jobs in the Arkansas City area, and will provide KanPak more direct control over inventory. Additionally, the proximity of the warehouse to the manufacturing plant increases efficiency for the company.
In attendance at the ribbon cutting were KanPak CEO Larry McGill, company president Kevin Casto, former Ark City Mayor Dan Jurkovich and current city manager Nick Hernandez.
McGill told those in attendance Wednesday it was a proud moment.
“I’m more excited today than I was 23 years ago when I started with Golden State Foods,” McGill said. “We have that much opportunity to grow and develop and bring business to this community, so we’re excited that we chose Ark City, we’re excited we chose this company, because of the people and certainly the support of the community we’ve gotten.”
Former Ark City mayor and current city commissioner Dan Jurkovich said the new warehouse adds to the town’s national and global footprint.
“There’s money coming from all around the globe back to Ark City,” he said.
In 2017, the City awarded a property and sales tax break for 10 years to KanPak, along with up to $17.5 million in industrustrial revenue bonds to fund construction for the warehouse.
