CONWAY, Ark. – Arkansas governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders and the Arkansas Economic Development Commission celebrated an expansion of Westrock Coffee in Conway Friday.
With a $300 Million investment, Westrock Coffee plans to provide many jobs to Arkansans.
Westrock Coffee facility expansion announced in Conway
The business started around 15 years ago in Rwanda and has grown to become what it is today. Matt Smith has been with the company since the beginning.
“As the business has grown, we have diversified across the globe, we source from 35 countries, Latin America, is where most of our coffee comes from now,” Smith said.
He was the first employee of Westrock Coffee, and has watched it expand over the years, but says that Rwanda still plays a special part in it all.
“Rwanda still represents the heart and soul of the business,” Smith said.
Westrock Coffee Announces facility in Conway set to be the largest in the country
It all began when Scott Ford, CEO, was looking to make an investment in the lives of people there and partnered with Smith.
“We said let’s build a mill, and let’s offer a fair price to these women who are trying to keep their children alive, and declare war on the coffee industry, who said we like paying them as little as we possibly can,” Ford said.
Ford, along with Governor Sanders, and the AEDC, announced the next step for this company, which will provide jobs in Arkansas.
“Initially when we announced that we bought this building and we were going to refurb it and turn it into an extract and ready to drink facility, we thought we would have 250 employees,” Ford said.
The announced Friday 600 more jobs, on top of the original 250 jobs, will be created. Ford said they’re proud to invest in Arkansas.
“I always wanted to bring the benefit of what we were doing back to Arkansas, what we started in Rwanda 14 years ago,” Ford said.
Smith, said this expansion is to meet the demands of the market, which have changed over time.
“It’s a whole different segment of the market than the traditional roast and ground, hot coffee business, the business is really dedicated to the evolution of consuming coffee,” Smith said.
He is very glad that Westrock will impact central Arkansas.
“A big part of what I seek to achieve professionally and personally with this business is impact, and that comes in many different forms, but 600 employees is a real impact on the ground in this community and something that we’re very proud of,” Smith said.