The announcement
On August 17, 2026, Governor Brian Kemp's office announced that Cirkla, a maker of sustainable molded fiber food packaging, will invest more than $5 million in a new production facility at the Gainesville 85 Business Center in Hall County. The company says the plant will serve as its North American manufacturing headquarters and will create roughly 140 new jobs over three years.
The category is worth reading twice: molded fiber packaging replaces plastic trays and clam shells with pressed renewable material, a line the foodservice and grocery industries are pulling steadily through their supply chains. It is another manufacturing floor in a corridor already run by Kubota assembly and King's Hawaiian's Oakwood plant, and it widens the base beyond automotive components.
The jobs and the drive
The jobs land in the deepest employment pocket of the corridor. The plant sits on the Gainesville 85 strip served by the Gainesville community page, about 30 to 35 minutes from Mulberry on a normal day, in a base that already includes Northeast Georgia Medical Center and the lake economy. The Hall County page and the employer and commute table keep the running account.
Sources
Announced by the office of Governor Brian Kemp on August 17, 2026: the state release, with figures as reported by FOX 5 Atlanta. Investment and job figures are from the announcement, not estimates.
Written by
Rob Dietrich
Georgia REALTOR® with eXp Realty, AI Certified Real Estate Strategist, serving Gwinnett, Hall, Barrow and Jackson counties.
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