“Muskegon has gone through different iterations throughout its storied history.”
Trevor Friedeberg is president and CEO of Greater Muskegon Economic Development.
“And manufacturing is still very strong here, but food processing can be considered manufacturing.”
Recent expansions at Chobani and La Colombe are a signal to food businesses to consider locating in the region.
“We’re strategically positioned here at the end of 96. We have the port of Muskegon. We have a lot of really unique assets that, frankly, are underleveraged right now, but we want to find ways to activate those and be able to ship things out, and hopefully that benefits everybody.”
Chris Sowa is lead instructor at the Culinary Institute of Muskegon. New food manufacturers offer students opportunities outside of the classroom.
“Not all of the students that we have that go to culinary school, some of them aren’t always interested in that exact line of work. They might still want to be in something associated with the food industry, so that would be another facet of the industry that our students could be employed in.”
GMED says 43% of the state’s total food processing jobs are in West Michigan.
For a weekly dose of news right to your inbox, sign up for the WGVU newsletter.
