Jae Lee, a savvy Korean American entrepreneur, has a thriving business down in Americus, Georgia: his plant makes chopsticks!

Despite opening for business only eight months ago, Lee’s plant, Georgia Chopsticks, has been cranking two million chopsticks each day for China’s 1.5 billion population. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that China was in need of chopsticks (they’re out of wood), and that Lee’s chopsticks plant was able to supply their large demand.

And while it might sound random to headquarter a chopstick-making factory in Americus, it’s actually ingenious and is creating much-needed jobs:

Americus turns out to be the perfect place to make chopsticks. The poplar and sweet gum trees that grow like weeds in this region have just the right balance of hardness and softness. Harder woods would dull the blades on the stick-producing machines. The area also has an active forestry industry, most of it geared toward producing pine construction and paper products.

Moreover, Americus—a city of 17,000 people about a two-hour drive south from Atlanta—has an abundant labor force because of its 12 percent unemployment rate (metro Atlanta’s is 9.7 percent) and numerous moribund manufacturing plants. The new plant is expected to offer 150 jobs.

When the factory becomes fully staffed soon, Lee expects to produce 10 million chopsticks a day.

For more details, go to: GEORGIA’S ECONOMY; Americus’ cool coup: Chopsticks for China

[Photo: Penny Mathews]

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