Southern Champion Tray Expands Chattanooga Operations

Chattanooga Chamber

Southern Champion Tray (SCT) will expand its Chattanooga operations by investing $84.9 million in a new manufacturing facility located in the Centre South Riverport Industrial Park. SCT’s purchase of the property is subject to the completion of due diligence which is expected to be complete by early first quarter of 2021.

As part of the expansion, SCT will create more than 120 new jobs in Hamilton County over the next five years.

“Southern Champion Tray is a Hamilton County legacy company,” says Hamilton County Mayor Jim Coppinger. “I’m thrilled about their decision to expand into Centre South Riverport Industrial Park, bringing over 120 jobs and over $80 million in investment. Southern Champion Tray’s expansion and investment will contribute to Hamilton County’s growth for years to come.”

The new manufacturing facility will convert paperboard into packaging products.

Construction will begin in early 2021 and is expected to be complete by early 2022. In addition to this building, SCT will maintain three other facilities in Chattanooga.

“We at Southern Champion Tray are extremely appreciative of Mayor Coppinger, the Chattanooga Chamber, Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development along with TVA, for the support in our company’s growth,” says Brian Hunt, Chief Operations Officer, Southern Champion Tray. “This is a vote of confidence for every current SCT employee, as well as the 120 new employees that we will be adding. After 93 years of continuous growth, we are excited to build another facility to support many more years of serving customers with Great Packaging and Distinctive Service.” 

SCT manufactures and distributes paperboard packaging products including food sleeves, trays, window boxes, cupcake inserts and others. More recently, the company has created a new tamper-evident packaging system for use by restaurants and food delivery services. The Guarantab®, dubbed “Fort Knox in a box,” securely locks the container so that customers will know their food has not been disturbed during the delivery process.

Headquartered in Chattanooga, SCT is a third generation, family-owned company. SCT employs more than 750 people and produces over 500 stock products for customers in the food service and baking industries. In addition, the company provides custom packaging solutions for customers across a number of industries.

“I’m proud to have worked with Southern Champion Tray through this expansion,” says Steve Hiatt, Director of Existing Business Development, Chattanooga Chamber of Commerce. “Their decision to add 125 jobs and invest $80 million in Hamilton County, their hometown, will have a lasting impact on our community.” 

Since July 1, 2019, the Chattanooga Chamber has assisted with new business locations and expansions totaling more than $500 million in investment and over 800 jobs.