A frozen food plant has become the second in Nashville to fail in six years in the same building—after receiving similar government cash and tax incentives.
Harry’s Fresh Foods, which makes frozen and refrigerated soup, dinners and side dishes, announced that it will cease operations in Nashville by next month, with a loss of about 135 jobs. Harry’s had moved into the 200,000-square-foot space at 2960 Armory Drive, about three and a half miles south of downtown Nashville, in the spring of 2016. It was the second manufacturing location for Harry’s, based in Portland, Ore., and owned by investment company Joshua Green Corp.
Do state incentives really help lure food jobs that last?
Harry’s received a $1 million grant from the state of Tennessee. The state will be able to recover $975,000 of that money, a spokesperson told the Nashville Business Journal.
This is the second food business to leave that building after receiving government incentives. Oberto Brands moved a beef jerky operation there in 2013, after getting a grant of $1.8 million and a $700,000 tax break. Little of that were recovered after Oberto moved out in January 2016 because its contract had no clawback provisions, the Journal reports.
