$50M investment will allow Saluda noodle company to expand, add jobs

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A new $50 million investment from Borealis, a Canadian food technology company, will enable Saluda-based Palmetto Gourmet Foods to expand operations and increase its workforce to 650 employees over the next year.

Palmetto Gourmet is a noodle-making plant that produces Chef Woo and Ramen Express instant ramen noodles sold throughout the U.S. and in Canada, according to a news release. The brands are distributed in 12,000 grocery stores including Walmart, Costco, Save a Lot and Aldi.

This new expansion will also allow Palmetto to begin exporting its products to Europe in 2023, company officials said.

 “What this means for the local economy is nothing short of amazing,” said Reza Soltanzadeh,CEO and co-founder of Palmetto Foods. “And with the continued R&D in food technology fromBorealis, this will make Palmetto a world-class facility for food advancement, innovation, and
production. We are so excited and proud that our locally made food, in a category long dominated by international brands, will be a major player on the global market.”

Palmetto Gourmet Foods currently has the capacity to produce 600 million meals per year. The new Borealis investment will increase that capacity to one billion meals per year, according to the news release.