Coke Opens $113M Juice Plant

AUBURNDALE, FL-Coca-Cola Co. has officially opened “the largest Minute Maid operation in the world” at a $113 million, 620,000-sf citrus juice production facility in Auburndale, FL, Polk County business development director Jim DeGennaro tells GlobeSt.com. The site is 60 miles south of Downtown Orlando.

Two years in the planning stage and only nine months in the construction phase, the new plant is producing orange juice now and plans to produce its Power Aid and clear water brands later. The plant opened with 88 workers–will grow to 100 by July–and expects to have a workforce of 300 by 2006, DeGennaro says.

“I like to say Polk County is the Pete Rose of baseball–without the gambling stigma,” DeGennaro tells GlobeSt.com. “In the economic development arena, we generally hit singles and sometimes a few doubles, but this time we hit a homerun,” in attracting the Atlanta-based company to Auburndale.