KANNAPOLIS – The City Council approved an incentive grant for Dole Food Company during its regular business meeting on Monday. The company plans to move its East Coast Fresh Fruit Sales Division to the North Carolina Research Campus.

The sales division will include 19 employees who have positions in administration, sales, marketing, nutrition and food safety. The company will transfer and hire locally for the positions with annual salaries ranging from a minimum of $50,000 to over $100,000, which is significantly above the average county wages. The division plans to occupy 6,800 square feet in the David H. Murdock Core Laboratory on the campus.

The one-time incentive grant is for $100,000, and the company anticipates spending $882,000 to build-out and equip the space needed in the core lab.

“We are pleased that this Dole Food Division is moving to Kannapolis. This will strengthen the links between nutrition and the studies underway on the North Carolina Research Campus. We look forward to welcoming them to our community,” Kannapolis Mayor Darrell Hinnant said in a news release.