Cereal maker Malt-O-Meal is expanding in Randolph County.

The company plans to create 80 jobs and invest $135 million during the next three years at its 350,000 square foot facility in Asheboro, according to an announcement today from Gov. Bev Perdue's office. The company will receive a $350,000 grant from the One North Carolina Fund.

The Minneapolis company opened the plant about 75 miles west of Raleigh in 2009.  It was originally lured to the state by financial incentives from Randolph County worth nearly $4 million and a state grant worth as much as $1.1 million. The latest state grant requires a local match.

The company now employs about 200 people. Salaries for the new jobs will vary by job function, but the average annual wage for the new jobs will be $34,508 not including benefits.  The Randolph County average annual wage is $29,172.

As textile plants have continued to close across North Carolina, the state is seeing a number of food producers step in and open or expand facilities in those areas of the state.

The latest to do so is Reser's Fine Foods, which announced this week it is expanding its presence in Halifax County and adding 500 new jobs over five years.

One of the byproducts of the decline in textile manufacturing in the state is that a number of counties now find themselves with an abundance of water and sewer capacity not being used.

If there's one thing textile manufacturers and food processing plants have in common it's that they both require a lot of water and sewer capacity to operate their businesses.

Ed Reser, CEO of Reser's Fine Foods, said this week that among the reasons his company picked Halifax in 2000 was its abundance of water and sewer capacity.

In Randolph County, where cereal-maker Malt-O-Meal has opened a plant, economic development officials are using their water and sewer capacity as a major selling point in trying to land food processing companies.

North Carolina is now home to a new food group: cereal made by Malt-o-Meal.

The Minneapolis-based company today officially opened its first East Coast manufacturing plant, a 350,000 square-foot facility in Asheboro, about 75 miles southwest of Raleigh.

The factory's 133 workers are producing Frosted Mini Spooners and Frosted Flakes, cold cereals sold by Walmart, Dollar Tree, Lowes Food, Family Dollar and other retailers.

The plant has room to add more production lines. At some point, the factory could produce the company's iconic hot, wheat cereal.

Malt-O-Meal was lured to North Carolina by financial incentives worth nearly $4 million from Randolph County and a state grant worth as much as $1.1 million. The company first announced plans to expand in Asheboro in late 2006.

Founded in 1919, Malt-O-Meal makes more than 25 types of cereal and has annual sales of $6.5 billion.