The Queen City has gone bananas over the announcement of Chiquita headquarter’s relocation to Charlotte!
Charlotte, a ‘tropical paradise?’ Well, we never would have expected to be known as a tropical paradise but, with the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce and Governor Bev Perdue’s recent announcement, we ARE! Charlotte’s Top Banana status is now a reality as Chiquita has just made a commitment to relocate its headquarters to the Queen City!
In a recent interview with Chiquita’s CEO, Fernando Aguirre, we were told that, “Charlotte provided the most compelling economic opportunity for Chiquita by far and the region is a very attractive region for our employees.” He further added, “99% of what we hear on Twitter is positive and of course the Charlotte community was very proactive in Twitter and very positive” – a highly progressive company has chosen one of the most progressive, high-tech cities in the Nation in which to do business!
Chiquita is investing $14 million dollar investment in the Charlotte area, including around 400 jobs to the Queen City, with half of those jobs being new recruits from our area. The annual average pay for these positions will be $106,000. Charlotte’s new Chiquita jobs will include management positions, sales, marketing and IT jobs. The move is expected to be nearly complete by mid-summer, 2012. Not only will the administrative offices be moved to Charlotte’s NASCAR Hall of Fame tower but, the research and development department will be moved here as well.
Why is Charlotte now the top banana? According to Chiquita CEO Fernando Aguirre, the business climate, Charlotte Douglas International Airport (one of the highest ranked airports in America) and Charlotte’s quality of life were all factors that made the Queen City a convincing ‘sale’ to Chiquita executives.
In addition, Chiquita will be providing Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools with 15 salad bars in district school cafeterias–a tropical paradise for our community children!
Thank you Chiquita for making Charlotte’s ‘top banana’ status go from figurative to literal! Welcome to Charlotte!
