The Kuttawa facility was financed in part with a grant and a loan from Kentucky’s share of master tobacco settlement funds. That enabled the business to borrow the rest of the money it needed to build the plant, co-owner Beth Drennan said.
“Without [the tobacco settlement money], we would not have been able to accomplish this,” Drennan said.
The processing plant includes a retail store where Broadbent sells more than 40 Kentucky Proud products, Drennan said. The store offers samples of many of the Kentucky Proud products it sells.
“Once they get them in their mouth, they buy them and take them home, and then we get repeat business,” Drennan said. “A lot of people are shocked by all the products that are made in Kentucky because they never knew about them.”
Other Kentucky Proud products sold in the store include popcorn from Ellis Popcorn in Murray; flour and wheat products from Weisenberger Mill in Midway; vegetables from Spring Valley Farms of Holland in Allen County, Flag Fork Herb Farm in Lexington, and Rebekah Grace in Taylorsville; cheeses from Kenny’s Farmhouse Cheese of Austin in Barren County; ice cream from Chaney’s Dairy Barn in Bowling Green, and watermelons from Watson Farms in Caldwell County.
The Agricultural Development Board awarded Broadbent a $400,000 loan for the facility. The Lyon and Trigg county councils provided a grant for $12,500.
(For the rest of the story, check out this week's edition of the Cadiz Record.)
