Shuttered South Carolina Bakery to Be Renovated, Reopened by Gaffney Bakery LLC

June 9, 2023
Gaffney Bakery will invest $96 million into former Ace Bakery plant in Cherokee County, S.C., expecting to ramp up operations by the middle of next year.

According to a release from the South Carolina governor’s office, Gaffney Bakery LLC and its partners plan to purchase, renovate and reopen a shuttered bakery facility in Gaffney, S.C. Gaffney Bakery will invest $96 million into the former Ace Bakery plant, and the company expects production to being by mid-2024, creating more than 260 jobs.

The facility was an injection molded parts plant in the early part of the 2000s, and Ace Bakery purchased and renovated it in 2013, opening it as its first U.S. bakery. Ace eventually announced a significant expansion of the plant in 2017, installing a new production line and doubling the size of the freezer, but the plant was shuttered in December 2022, leaving nearly 100 employees without a job.

According to the release from the governor’s office, the Coordinating Council for Economic Development awarded a $2.5 million Rural Infrastructure Fund (RIF) grant to Cherokee County to assist with the costs of building improvements for this project.

About the Author

Andy Hanacek | Senior Editor

Andy Hanacek has covered meat, poultry, bakery and snack foods as a B2B editor for nearly 20 years, and has toured hundreds of processing plants and food companies, sharing stories of innovation and technological advancement throughout the food supply chain. In 2018, he won a Folio:Eddie Award for his unique "From the Editor's Desk" video blogs, and he has brought home additional awards from Folio and ASBPE over the years. In addition, Hanacek led the Meat Industry Hall of Fame for several years and was vice president of communications for We R Food Safety, a food safety software and consulting company.

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