North Carolina is adding the kinds of manufacturing jobs one almost never hears anymore: cabinets.
A kitchen cabinet manufacturer announced today it will add 136 jobs over five years in Rutherfordton, about 225 miles west of Raleigh.
The expansion will come as a result of Connecticut-based Gourmet Group acquiring Geppetto Kitchens and investing $2.3 million in the existing facility. Geppetto currently employs about 45 people at the site and had planned to close if not for the acquistion.
The planned jobs will pay $34,093 on average, not including benefits, exceeding the the Rutherford County average annual wage of $28,392.
If it meets the job creation goals, Gourmet will qualify for $270,000 in One N.C. Fund grants as well as local tax credits that could exceed $100,000. The local incentives will pay $1,000 for each job created in the first year, $660 in the second year and $330 in the third year.
John Murawski has been a full-time newspaper reporter since 1991, with stints at Legal Times and The Chronicle of Philanthropy (both in Washington, DC), The Philadelphia Inquirer and The Palm Beach Post (in South Florida) before arriving at the N&O in December 2004. At the N&O he covers energy (nuclear, coal, renewable, efficiency), utilities (electric, natural gas, telephone) and telecommunications. His beat includes such publicly traded companies as Progress Energy, Duke Energy, PSNC Energy, Piedmont Natural Gas, PowerSecure International, Tekelec, Cisco Systems, AT&T, among others. You can reach him at 919-829-8932 or 
