Amy’s Kitchen is already setting up offices in Santa Maria da Feira

Jornal N had contacted Amy’s Kitchen administration in the United States, and Michelle Erbs, Marketing Manager of the American giant confirmed that despite the delay, the company maintains its plans to settle in Santa Maria da Feira. "Amy’s Kitchen remains committed in building European operations from Portugal” – guaranteed the responsible who promised news soon. "We are going to announce the timeline of the installation soon”, he added.

The Mayor of Santa Maria da Feira, Emídio Sousa, was not surprised by the answer of the company’s administration and he noted that Amy’s Kitchen "is already setting up the office to start operations”.

Emídio Sousa says that the movements of the company have been taken "in the last days". The Mayor also guaranteed that "he knew that the company maintains the intention to invest in Santa Maria da Feira, because they were here last October."

We should remember that it was in 2016 that the company specializing in pre-cooked vegan meals, announced the installation of its first unit outside the United States in Santa Maria da Feira. In 2017, the company and the Municipality had presented the contract that foresees an investment by phases. The initial figures are above 37 million and predicts the creation of 160 jobs, and after five years, the total investment is planned to be around 60 million euros, with the creation of 600 direct jobs. At the time, the company planned to begin the constructions of the unit in 2017, so that by 2018 it would be already working. However, in 2017 the construction of the plant in Luso-park did not occur, and Emídio Sousa explained that the delay was due, on one hand, to Brexit (referendum that led the United Kingdom to leave the European Union on June 23, 2016) and, on the other hand, to the bet of Amy's Kitchen in the United Kingdom and France.

The US company should have been obliged to correct its implementation in Europe taking into consideration the new reality of the European Union. In addition to direct jobs, the Amy's Kitchen facility plans to set up other parallel businesses in the region, particularly in what concerns to agricultural products to make the meals which will be shipped throughout Europe.