HOPKINSVILLE, KY (CHRISTIAN COUNTY NOW) – The City of Hopkinsville is continuing to fulfill a financial agreement with an incoming industry which will bring over 900 jobs to the area. The development of Kitchen Food Company is the single largest job-creation announcement in Christian County in over 20 years.

Via municipal order during the March 3 meeting, the Hopkinsville City Council will designate up to $2.2 million from the city’s Economic Development Fund in order to fulfill grant obligations with Kitchen Food Co. This expenditure would cover the second payment for the grant that was previously agreed upon.

After the payment was approved, the council voted to completely eliminate the Economic Development Fund. Ten percent of excess General Fund revenues on an annual basis were allocated to stock this fund, which would only be used for economic development-related expenditures. This process allowed the city to peruse agreements such as this one without cuts to other departments.

Municipal Order 15-2026 was approved during the meeting which says in part, “The City of Hopkinsville believes that the fund has served the purpose intended and is no longer of use.”

| RELATED STORY: Hopkinsville City Council settles on 3% salary increase during final vote

Details, purpose of grant agreement

The city initially entered the grant agreement with Kitchen Food Co. in November 2024. The mayor was authorized to sign the agreement in the amount of $4.5 million for the purpose of paying permissible expenditures for the project.

The grant stated that Kitchen Food Company Limited desired to acquire, construct, install, and equip an approximately 100,000 square foot manufacturing plant on Frank Yost Lane, near Siemer Milling and Krusteaz. It goes on to say that the city has determined that the benefits to be achieved by the grant will result in economic development, increased employment, growth of industry and commerce, and increased occupational license fees and tax revenues.

The agreement was slightly revised a month later, with changes including installment payment dates and additional security measures to ensure the company reaches 350 jobs in occupational tax revenue.

More about the Kitchen Food Co. development

The 20-year-old business is based in Australia and has the mission of offering nutritious, accessible ready meals, with the company having a customer contract with ALDI. According to the Kitchen Food Co. website, they embrace the latest and most relevant technology to ensure they are able to continuously improve processes.

In September of 2025, Carter Hedricks with the Southwestern Kentucky Economic Development Council said that he expects they will be operational within a year.

With the company investing $69 million into the development, they describe the plant as an “ultra modern” facility. The 925 jobs created will include operations and production managers, HR managers, accountants, technical managers, engineers, supervisors, machine operators, forklift drivers and process and warehouse operatives.

| DOWNLOAD THE APP: Sign up for our free Christian County Now app