Beech-Nut Nutrition Corp., a manufacturer of baby food, has opened a new 650,000-square-foot production facility in Florida, New York. It has also relocated its corporate headquarters from St. Louis, Missouri to the New York site. The move and construction represents an investment of $124 million by the company, and it will employ approximately 500 people.

Incentives played a significant role in attracting Beech-Nut to the Empire State.

"We are grateful to the state of New York for the consideration they have shown us with these incentives as we seek to create a new, state of the art facility and a new home for our exceptional employees," said Christoph Rudolf, president and CEO of Beech-Nut. "Beech-Nut has been a proud contributor to the economy of upstate New York since our founding in 1891. We look forward to planting our roots even deeper here and advance our mission of providing the best baby food available."

The facility is environmentally-friendly, and Beech-Nut locally sources the majority of the fruits and vegetables used for its products from New York State.