Premium Peanut

Premium Peanut, a new peanut processing facility, will use $42M in total NMTC Allocation to expand into Santee, SC, and introduce over 450 peanut growers to the international market. The Innovate Fund provided the project with a $7MM QEI, which in addition to allocation from four other CDEs, financed the construction of a new 86,139 SF facility with $72,392,755 in total development costs.

Premium Peanut will bring extensive economic relief to the community by prioritizing the interests of local farmers. By locating the facility in close proximity to peanut farmlands, the company will greatly cut transportation costs and return that value back to the growers. Through its innovative profit-sharing model, Premium Peanut will be able to reward local farmers for the company’s success by providing additional year-end dividends. Lastly, by locating the facility in the SC Gateway Industrial Park, Premium Peanut will utilize Orange County’s Global Logistics Triangle, which will connect the local farmers to the world market. In total, these benefits will generate an estimated $1.8B of economic impact into the community over the next 20 years of operation.

As a start-up operation in a new state, Premium Peanut had a significant gap in capital that needed to be filled immediately before moving forward. As such, NMTC financing was the only reason the project was able to proceed with the expansion and, therefore, a critical part of the overall capital stack.

Premium Peanut anticipates the new shelling facility to be fully operational in the first quarter of 2026. In addition to the 160 construction jobs needed to build the facility, the company will create 83 permanent positions, of which 68 (82%) will be Quality Jobs and 66 (79%) will be Accessible Jobs targeted towards LIPs. The project’s Quality Jobs will have starting salaries of $25.36/hr, which is 34% higher than the county’s Living Wage and 116% higher than the census tract’s Per Capita Income. These quality positions will also receive additional benefits such as health care, 401k matching, PTO, and bonuses based on the company’s annual profits. By providing quality employment, Premium Peanut is integral to revitalizing the LIC, which currently suffers from a 25% Poverty Rate and 10.7% Unemployment Rate and will catalyze further growth in the local community. 

“Premium Peanut is proud of the value we have been able to create for over 400 grower-owners, in addition to providing quality products to customers around the world. We are thrilled to expand our operations and establish our footprint in South Carolina.”

-Karl Zimmer, Premium Peanut CEO