Company plows through hiring projections

Food distribution firm Cheney Bros. surpassed 380 hires for its facility in Charlotte County — a milestone figure that fulfills the hiring requirements the firm agreed to when it accepted public subsidies to aid the project.

The Riviera Beach-based company opened a state-of-the-art, $43 million, 345,000-square-foot distribution center on 35 acres adjacent to the Punta Gorda Airport in Charlotte County late last year. The company received more than $1.5 million in state and county financial incentives for the project, in return for hiring at least 380 people by December 2019. The firm exceeded the commitment within two years, according to a statement from Charlotte County, and is still growing.

Cheney Bros. trucks everything from Coca-Cola to Karo syrup as far north as Tampa and south as Everglades City from the facility.