Golden State Foods and DeKalb Technical College are partnering to provide training for 60 new jobs announced back in June as part of GSF's expansion of its Conyers facility.
The program, called Quick Start, was developed based on a project study conducted at Golden State Foods in Conyers. The training agreement is based on the company's commitment to provide approximately 60 new jobs for Georgians in the Rockdale County area. Quick Start will be designing and developing training material, as well as providing instructors, for the classes.
The company has created 60 jobs in its liquid products division, which includes syrups, sauces, condiments, dressings and other products for clients like McDonald's.
"Utilizing Quick Start has allowed a large majority of our workforce to enjoy up-to-date training materials, giving Golden State Foods a competitive edge for future growth," said Kim Donahue, Golden State Foods human resources manager. "Quick Start takes the time to learn the processes and equipment to incorporate into detailed manuals. This has significantly helped us with training new people while in growth mode."
Golden State Foods is one of the largest suppliers to the Quick Service Restaurant industry, providing 20,000 restaurants with services that include raw material and equipment sourcing and procurement, food processing/manufacturing, custom distribution and convenient on-site services. The company's liquid products division produces more than 17 million cases (about 400 million pounds) of liquid products annually.
Quick Start is Georgia's economic development program that provides customized workforce training at no cost to qualified new, expanding and existing businesses in Georgia. Since 1967, Quick Start has trained more than 600,000 employees through 5,100 projects with a broad range of industries.
The training program involves three distinct partners: Golden State Foods, DeKalb Technical College and Quick Start. Each partner will be responsible for the successful completion of this program. The partnership will not end when the Quick Start training is completed. DeKalb Technical College will be available to assist Golden State Foods with ongoing training programs.
"Quick Start, Golden State Foods and DeKalb Technical College have had successful partnerships before, and we look forward to another," said Jackie Rohosky, Technical College System of Georgia assistant commissioner for economic development programs and head of Quick Start. "We're extremely pleased to be able to provide strategic workforce solutions to this outstanding facility, and eager to see more Georgians in good jobs as a result of Golden State Foods' growth."
"Programs like Quick Start are why we continue to raise the bar while investing in our most important assets, our people," said Larry McGill, Golden State Foods chief operating officer. "A new hire who is trained early on allows us a better success rate for keeping qualified workers and long term retention."
"At DeKalb Technical College, we are constantly trying to meeting the needs of our community," said Dr. Robin Hoffman, president of DeKalb Technical College. "This partnership is a shining example of how we as a college join with our local businesses to improve the economy, the job market and the quality of life in our community. It is a team effort. Today our team scored."
