ROANOKE, Va. – A Franklin County bakery known for its sweet treats is ready to hire dozens of new employees after a multi-million dollar expansion.
Empire Bakery, which creates ready-made cakes and desserts for stores like Kroger, unveiled a $10 million expansion to its Rocky Mount facility Friday morning. The expansion, which has been under construction since October 2018, creates 75 new jobs at the facility.
“This is the key for us to do so many more things," said Empire Bakery President Mike Merrick. "Now that this is out of the way, we can focus on serving these customers and hiring these associates. There’s a lot more for us in the coming years.”
Empire Bakery now has 180 employees, 45 more than it did when the construction for the expansion began. Merrick said the expansion also includes $2 million worth of new equipment.
“We love to celebrate because that’s what we do. We’re in the business of creating items to celebrate with,” Merrick said. “We’re excited we can do that and we’re really delighted for our associates and our customers.”