Project announced in June 2023 and broke ground in January 2024
FRANKFORT, Ky. (April 14, 2025) – Today, Gov. Andy Beshear joined local officials and leaders from Bakery Express Midwest, a commercial bakery manufacturing company, to cut the ribbon on its new Boone County location, which includes a more-than-$20 million investment creating over 225 full-time jobs in the region.
“I want to congratulate Bakery Express Midwest on this significant milestone in Boone County,” said Gov. Beshear. “This new operation builds on the economic momentum we have been seeing across the commonwealth. I want to thank the company’s leadership for allowing me to join them in cutting the ribbon on the new facility and I look forward to seeing Bakery Express Midwest thrive here in their New Kentucky Home.”
The project was first announced in June 2023, with the company breaking ground on the facility in January 2024. The new 50,000-square-foot facility in Northern Kentucky will serve Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana and Tennessee with fresh baked goods.
“I am excited to announce the grand opening of our new Bakery Express Midwest operation located in Florence, Kentucky, on April 14,” said Bakery Express Midwest CEO Art DiLullo. “It has been 444 days since we broke ground here in Boone County, Kentucky, and with the commitment of all our partners from the great team at BE NKY, GEIS Construction Co. and local supply partners and contractors, we have successfully planned and executed the grand opening of our newest fresh daily bakery operation. We are excited to start supplying fresh daily bakery goods throughout the Midwest starting with our customer Wawa convenience stores.”
Founded in 1970, in Halethorpe, Maryland, Bakery Express Mid-Atlantic Inc. was the first of many companies founded by Charles Burman. Bakery Express of Central Florida, Bakery Express of Central Texas, Bakery Express of Southern California and now Bakery Express Midwest provide fresh bakery products to over 4,000 retail outlets across the United States. Bakery Express companies currently employ 620 people, and the company’s fresh daily product line consists of a wide variety of items including donuts, muffins, cookies, brownies, croissants, bagels, pastries, cupcakes and other specialty items.
Boone County Judge/Executive Gary Moore showed his excitement for the progress: “I am thrilled Bakery Express Midwest has chosen to invest in our region, and we certainly welcome more than 225 new, good-paying jobs for Boone County. It’s been incredible to watch the company’s 50,000-square-foot facility come to fruition in just a little over one year, a testament to the company’s commitment to Northern Kentucky.”
Lee Crume, CEO of BE NKY Growth Partnership, mentioned the significant investment: “Bakery Express Midwest’s $20 million investment is a strong addition to Northern Kentucky’s thriving food and flavoring industry. I look forward to stopping at the new Wawa convenience store in Liberty Township, Ohio, to purchase Bakery Express’s fresh baked goods.”
Bakery Express Midwest’s investment and job creation build on the best five-year period for economic growth in state history.
Since the beginning of his administration, Gov. Beshear has announced more than 1,100 private-sector new-location and expansion projects totaling over $35 billion in announced investments, creating more than 60,500 jobs. This is the highest investment figure secured during the tenure of any governor in the commonwealth’s history and $14 billion more than the next highest total.
The robust job creation has been accompanied by rising wages across the commonwealth. Since 2022, the average incentivized hourly wage has topped $26 in three consecutive years for the first time.
Gov. Beshear has announced some of the largest economic development projects in state history, which have solidified Kentucky as the electric vehicle battery production capital of the United States: Ford Motor Co. and SK On’s transformative $5.8 billion, 5,000-job BlueOval SK Battery Park in Hardin County; AESC’s $2 billion, 2,000-job gigafactory project in Warren County; Toyota’s $1.3 billion investment in Scott County; and Shelbyville Battery Manufacturing’s $712 million investment, creating 1,572 jobs in Shelby County, among others.
The Governor’s administration also secured the largest General Fund budget surplus and Rainy Day Fund. In 2023, Kentucky recorded over 2 million jobs filled for the first time ever and has stayed above that number ever since.
Kentucky also secured rating increases from major credit rating agencies Fitch Ratings, S&P Global Ratings and Moody’s Investors Service.
Site Selection magazine recently ranked Kentucky in the top five nationally and second in the South Central region for economic development projects per capita in its 2024 Governor’s Cup rankings. Last April, Site Selection placed Kentucky second in the South Central region and in the top 10 nationally in its 2024 Prosperity Cup ranking, which recognizes state-level economic development agencies for their success in landing capital investment projects.
Gov. Beshear also announced a new initiative, called New Kentucky Home, to increase economic investment, attain and attract talent, and increase tourism across the state.
To encourage investment and job growth in the community, the Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority (KEDFA) in June 2023 preliminarily approved a 10-year incentive agreement with the company under the Kentucky Business Investment program. The performance-based agreement can provide tax incentives based on the company’s investment and annual job targets.
By meeting its annual targets over the agreement term, the company can be eligible to keep a portion of the new tax revenue it generates. The company may claim eligible incentives against its income tax liability and/or wage assessments.
In addition, Bakery Express Midwest can receive resources from Kentucky’s workforce service providers. Those include no-cost recruitment and job placement services, reduced-cost customized training and job-training incentives.
For more information on Bakery Express Midwest, visit BakeryExpressUSA.com.
A detailed community profile for Boone County can be viewed here.
Information on Kentucky’s economic development efforts and programs is available at CED.ky.gov. Fans of the Cabinet for Economic Development can also join the discussion at facebook.com/CEDkygov, on Twitter @CEDkygov, Instagram @CEDkygov and LinkedIn.
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