With E. & J. Gallo’s recent opening of their first East Coast operation, the food & beverage industry in Chester County continues to grow at a rapid pace.
Fast-Growing Food & Beverage Industry
Existing Industry
Industry Feature
E. & J. Gallo Winery Opens First East Coast Operation in Rural South Carolina. The Impacts Will Be Deep, Broad, and Long Lasting.
The world’s largest winery – California-based E. & J. Gallo – opened their initial phase of its first East Coast operations in October 2022. This is the culmination of a collaboration between the family-owned company and multiple state and local stakeholders working together to create the infrastructure and financial conditions needed to make the complex deal happen.
It also is just the beginning. Gallo’s initial $423 million investment is expected to create 496 new jobs in the next eight years. The company has said its long-term vision includes raising its stake to $1 billion and more than 1,000 jobs over the next three decades.
Plans announced for a 650-acre production and distribution site
On June 15, 2021, Gallo announced it would build the new production facility and distribution center in Chester County, South Carolina, at a 650-acre rural site near Interstate 77 in the corridor between Charlotte, North Carolina, and Columbia, South Carolina.
The South Carolina operation provides bottling and canning capacity as well as warehousing and distribution for a growing portfolio of wine and spirits brands, taking advantage of the site’s proximity to the Port of Charleston about 120 miles away and to its central location among the East Coast’s network of interstates and railways.
The company’s operations center is on its 300-acre home site in Modesto, California, yet the company wanted to expand that to the East Coast, where two-thirds of its customers live and where major ports could help ship its products to overseas more efficiently while Gallo works to reduce its carbon footprint overall.
New Opportunities within the Catawba River region
E.&J. Gallo Winery was founded in 1933 and has since grown to be the largest wine company on the planet, producing by some estimates more than 3% of the world’s annual supply through multiple brands while it helped Napa Valley become synonymous with that global industry.
Gallo will be working with the Clemson Extension Service to study the feasibility of growing such grapes in Chester and surrounding counties through which the Catawba River flows, bringing new business opportunities and connectivity to those areas, as well as advances in viticulture that could be shared far beyond the region.
