Mayor Haslam, Mayor Ragsdale and Tommy Dail - President and Chief Executive Officer of SYSCO Food Services of Knoxville participated in the grand opening of the SYSCO Distribution Center during an official ribbon cutting Tuesday.

The 350,000-square-foot food service distribution center will distribute fresh and frozen foods and food serves to about 5,000 customers in parts of Tennessee, Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina and Virginia.
 
SYSCO has 312 jobs with an annual payroll of 17.5 million and the company has made a $50.3 million investment in Knoxville.

"This is a great day for us because a wonderful new neighbor in our business community is opening its doors and we know that SYSCO is going to be an important part of our business community here in Knoxville," said Mayor Haslam.

Several different agencies like the Knoxville Chamber, TVA, the Tennessee Economic Development Office, KUB, TDOT, the City, the Development Corporation of Knox County and the City's IDB worked with each other and SYSCO to bring the distribution center to Knoxville.