Smuckers plant to pay workers $48k to make PB&J sandwiches in Longmont

LONGMONT, Colo. -- Where can a worker make more than $48,000 a year to mass produce peanut butter and jelly sandwiches? Those wages will be available to the hundreds of employees at a proposed Longmont Smuckers plant expected to go online in 2019.

The J.M. Smucker Company announced in January plans to build a 200,000-square-foot facility that will be both in Longmont and Weld County. The factory will churn out Smucker's Uncrustables sandwiches and eventually employ 500 people.

To seal the deal, the Longmont City Council is cutting off the crust and offering the Ohio company $6.5 million in rebates on taxes and permit fees. The deal would require that Smuckers pay its employees an average salary of $48,977 annually, the LongmontTimes Callreports.

The incentive package is up for a second reading and vote on Feb. 21. Planners expect the plant to bring in more than $12 million in direct revenue to the city in the next 10 years.

The Longmont facility will be constructed in two phases over multiple years. Phase one construction is expected to begin this spring. 

The Associated Press contributed to this story