Chamber Vision January and February 2018

Emporia Area Chamber of Commerce and Convention & Visitors Bureau identified as a strong brand for the Kansas City region. KCADC had that eureka moment when several animal health and nutrition business leaders indicated that the majority of the animal health companies, have a presence in the area from Columbia, Missouri, to Manhattan, Kansas, and from St. Joseph, Missouri, to Emporia, Kansas. According to the 2014 Corridor Asset survey, the KC Animal Health Corridor represented 56% of the total worldwide animal health, diagnostics, and pet food sales. January and February 2018 over $1,430,337 will be collected annually. Of that amount, 38%, or $543,528 goes to the Emporia schools (USD #253), Lyon County receives 36%, or $514,921, the City of Emporia receives 25%, or $357,584 and 19%, or $14,304 is received by the State of Kansas. The Emporia Pet Nutrition business accounts for 7% of the total workforce in the City of Emporia. The metrics the RDA utilizes to determine the Return on Investment (ROI) are: number of jobs created, average In June 1994, we were contacted by the pet food annual salaries, total annual payroll, and property taxes company, which is Simmons Pet Food today, about the paid. These are measurable. Rarely do we use economic possibility of locating a new facility in Emporia. It only took impact numbers. three years for us to convince them to locate in July 1997. Quality Projects Today, we realize that Emporia has a strong growth in pet nutrition. In 1994, we had Safeway Pet Food, which is now Cargill Pet Food with 41 employees. Today, there are 766 pet nutrition employees in Emporia, with the projected growth in the near future of 825, and in the next several years, over 925 employees, with an estimated $60 million annual payroll. Back in 1994, the annual property taxes collected for the Emporia Pet Nutrition business was approximately $82,000. With the growth of the pet nutrition business 33 As mentioned in the opening paragraph, Emporia/ Lyon County competed for three high-quality projects. Two U.S. corporations, and one Asian corporation. All three companies visited Emporia, we made the short-list with all three final location decisions were made before the end of the year. Simmons Pet Food was one of the projects. The other two chose sites in Kentucky, and Missouri. In our debriefing with those two project contacts, Emporia/Lyon County was eliminated based on factors beyond our control. Happy holidays to all. Carla Barnett, Community National Bank, Adela Maynez, Hopkins Manufacturing, and Troy Estes, Vektek, pose at ValuNet Fiber’s sponsored Business After Hours. Their smiles are big for being elected into the Board of Directors for the Chamber.

Chamber Vision January and February 2018 | Page 33